Ed Schultz is no suspension novice.
As the left-wing television and radio host wallows in his week long payless exile from his MSNBC show for calling conservative commentator Laura Ingraham a “right wing slut,” he has at least one previous suspension experience that he can turn to for inspiration on how to get through this lonesome period.
The year was 1988 and a much younger Ed Schultz was employed providing play-by-play coverage of North Dakota State University football games for WDAY radio (he was also sports director of WDAY-TV). During a September game, a whisky bottle came flying into the press box where Schultz was broadcasting.
Though unhurt, Schultz wasn’t particularly pleased and reportedly “uttered a string of profanities” on air before going “into the stands in search of the thrower,” according to the Associated Press.
Schultz was told by the station to “take a few days off to clear the air.” While the vice president of WDAY Inc. didn’t say whether the clearing the air period was an official suspension, he invited people to draw their own conclusions, according to the AP.
Translation: It was a suspension.
“The management of WDAY television has asked Ed to take a few days off to clear the air over this unfortunate incident,” the statement released from the radio network read in part. “As you know, Ed has apologized if he has offended anyone by his actions or comments over the incident. And we want you to know that the management of WDAY feels the same way.”
In his 2004 book “Straight Talk from the Heartland,” Schultz addressed the incident, which he called one of his most “ignominious moments,” assuring readers that he could be a “horse’s patoot.”
“By the fourth quarter, the crowd in front of the broadcast booth was getting ugly. Suddenly, a whiskey bottle came hurtling through the glass and struck my co-announcer, Gary Barta, in the belly. Glass rained down on us — all over me. It could have taken out my eye, and the close call enraged me,” Schultz wrote.
“We were live on the air, but to this day I don’t know exactly what I said. Some people said I spoke a language Dick Cheney would understand. All I know is that I threw down my headphones and waded into the crowd looking for the person who threw the bottle. I almost got in a fight. I don’t think I would have hurt anyone, but when someone like me does something like that, it makes news.”
He continued: “My bad behavior made it onto Paul Harvey and it got me suspended. It’s a day I’d like to forget. But the truth of the matter is, my actions were fairly typical for someone out here in the heartland. We settle things face to face — and nobody wants to take any crap from anyone.”