Former Fargo radio talk-show host Ed Schultz was suspended by MSNBC after reportedly making disparaging remarks to describe a female host from Fox News.
Several news and blog sites reported Wednesday that Schultz used a derogatory slur when talking about Laura Ingraham on his show Tuesday.
During his MSNBC television show Wednesday night, Schultz apologized to Ingraham, his audience and the network, his family and his wife, all of whom he said he embarrassed.
Schultz called his choice of words vile and inappropriate.
"It doesn't matter what the circumstances were, it doesn't matter that it was on radio and I was ad-libbing, none of that matters. None of that matters. What does matter is that it was totally vile."
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Schultz called the situation "the lowest of the low for me."
Vowing to never use such language again, Schultz concluded with another apology directed at Ingraham.
Schultz did not finish the show. A second anchor closed the Wednesday show.
MSNBC released the following statement about the matter, saying "remarks of this nature are unacceptable and will not be tolerated."
Earlier in the day MSNBC management met with Ed Schultz and accepted his offer to take one week of unpaid leave.
Ingraham responded to the comments via Facebook, where she said she "was surprised to learn that Ed Schultz actually hosted a radio show" and commented about "men who preach civility but practice misogyny."
The Business Insider wrote Schultz's reason for the comment: "Ingraham was on Fox the other day criticizing Obama for drinking beer in Ireland while Joplin, Mo., was picking up the pieces following the devastating tornado there earlier this week.
"And while it's very tempting to brush this off as just another idiotic moment in cable news (among so many) ... Schultz's tone is so nasty as to be disturbing. Truly. This is not a slip of the tongue. And while Schultz was not on MSNBC when he said it, one hopes they will go to some lengths to respond and distance themselves from him."
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The suspension comes on the heels of a lawsuit filed against Schultz in federal court. Michael Queen, a broadcast engineer for NBC, alleges that he helped Schultz get his current gig as host of "The Ed Show" and that Schultz owes him at least $100,000 for the 25 percent stake of the show's profits Schultz promised him.
Schultz has reportedly filed a counterclaim against Queen, alleging fraud, slander and libel.
