RICK SANCHEZ OUT AT CNN AFTER CALLING JON STEWART A “BIGOT”

Rick Sanchez, host of CNN’s Rick’s List, was booted by the cable news channel after calling Jon Stewart a “bigot” during a radio interview and complaining that “everybody who runs CNN” is, like Stewart, Jewish. Appearing on Pete Dominick’s Sirius radio show to promote his new book, Conventional Idiocy, the Cuban-American Sanchez went on to complain that “a lot of people who run all the other networks are a lot like Stewart, and to imply that somehow they — the people in this country who are Jewish — are an oppressed minority? Yeah.” CNN did not refer to the radio interview in announcing Sanchez’s departure. It merely stated that he is “no longer with the company,” and added, “We thank Rick for his years of service and we wish him well.” (A week ago, the news outlet fired Jonathan Klein as president of CNN/U.S. Klein is Jewish; his successor, Ken Jautz, is not. Neither is Time Warner Chairman and CEO Jeff Bewkes, nor the company’s largest shareholder, CNN founder Ted Turner.) Stewart contributed a few parting shots to the Sanchez firing on Saturday night. As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, Stewart, as host of an autism benefit called Night of Too Many Stars, asked viewers to make a donation, then remarked, “If you went on radio and said the Jews control the media … you may want to hold on to your money.” Making a surprise appearance on stage, David Letterman told Stewart that he was in town “helping Rick Sanchez clean out his office.” Sanchez himself issued no statement regarding his dismissal over the weekend. Following a meeting of its board of directors, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists said it would not comment on it.