CNN contributor Roland Martin has officially been suspended by the network for his controversial tweets during Sunday night’s Super Bowl.
During a commercial break, Roland tweeted, “If a dude at your Super Bowl party is hyped about David Beckham’s H&M underwear ad, smack the ish out of him! #superbowl.”
He insists that his remarks were a shot at soccer and had no homophobic undertones.
Roland also made snide remarks earlier in the day about a New England Patriots player showing up in an all pink suit, tweeting, “[...] he needs a visit from #teamwhipdatass.”
After catching heat from his followers and gay rights group GLADD, Martin was put on suspension by the cable news network.
They said in a statement:
“Roland Martin’s tweets were regrettable and offensive. Language that demeans is inconsistent with the values and culture of our organization, and is not tolerated. We have been giving careful consideration to this matter, and Roland will not be appearing on our air for the time being.”
After the news broke, GLAAD posted this statement on their official website:
“CNN today took a strong stand against anti-LGBT violence and language that demeans any community,” GLAAD spokesman Rich Ferraro said. “Yesterday, Martin also spoke out against anti-LGBT violence. We look forward to hearing from CNN and Roland Martin to discuss how we can work together as allies and achieve our common goal of reducing such violence as well as the language that contributes to it.”
Martin has yet to speak on the suspension.
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