Randi Rhodes Blames Air America's New Owners On Larry King: "This Is Really About Them Wanting To Change My Contract"

Update: Randi Rhodes went on Larry King Live and contradicted earlier statements regarding the manner in which her relationship was terminated with Air America. Rhodes said that Air America had new owners and that "this thing is really about them wanting to change my contract." According to Rhodes, when the new owners discovered "they didn't have the right to fire [her]" they used parts of her stand-up routine as a means to get her to leave Air America.

[WATCH]

The Huffington Post has learned that Richard Belzer will fill in during Randi Rhodes' time slot next week. Read more here.

Update: The Huffington Post has learned that Randi Rhodes quit Air America after being asked by the network to apologize for her inflammatory remarks against Hillary Clinton and Geraldine Ferraro.

A source at Air America, who asked to remain anonymous, said, "Many people screw up and then apologize and move on. Like Imus. Like David Shuster. Like Jay Rockefeller on McCain. Like Obama on Rezko. Like Hillary on Bosnia. Randi Rhodes refused to apologize for her obscene comments and has chosen instead to terminate her relationship with Air America."

The source also said that there is no love lost between Rhodes and her colleagues at the network. "No one is upset. She made the move but there's relief and joy."

Dismissing claims that Rhodes was just doing stand-up comedy in San Francisco when she made the remarks, the source confirmed that Air America paid her way to California, that she was advertised as "Air America's Randi Rhodes," and that the Air America website urged people to go for "an evening of politics and pop culture." The source said, "Air America pays people to be talk show hosts, not stand-up comics, or else we'd hire Chris Rock."

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It remains unclear who will substitute for Rhodes' time slot in both the short- and long-term, but the source said the network is looking at Rhodes' departure as an opportunity to rebuild. "Sometimes it's for the best that the leading player leaves so you can rebuild with better talent."

Original Post: Randi Rhodes has quit Air America Radio just a week after being suspended for calling both Hillary Clinton and Geraldine Ferraro a "fucking whore" in a public appearance (seen here). The station has condemned her lanaguage, but she herself has not come out publicly to retract her statements. Now a statement from Air America reveals that she has walked away from the station.

Charlie Kireker, Chair, and Mark Green, President, for Air America Media released the following statement:

Last week Air America suspended Randi Rhodes for abusive, obscene language at a recent public appearance in San Francisco which was sponsored by an Air America affiliate station.

Air America Media was informed last night by Ms. Rhodes that she has chosen to terminate her employment with the company. We wish her well and thank her for past services to Air America.

Reports surfaced yesterday that Rhodes was leaving the network, possibly to join KKGN/San Francisco. From a report on RadioAndRecords.com:

According to John Scott, PD of Clear Channel talk KKGN/San Francisco, suspended talker Randi Rhodes and Air America network have parted company as of Wednesday (April 9). In a posting on the station Web site Scott says that on Monday (April 14), "it will be our pleasure to announce the return of Randi Rhodes to the Green 960 family."

Update: Nova M Radio has announced that Randi Rhodes will be joining the network as of Monday:

The Nova M Radio Network is thrilled to announce the addition of "The Randi Rhodes Show" to its nationally syndicated talent offerings beginning this Monday, April 14, 2008.

Randi Rhodes is the #1 rated progressive talk radio host in the nation.

Nova M CEO John Manzo says, "I just can't stop smiling - Randi is simply the biggest and the best. Randi Rhodes and Mike Malloy under one roof - talk about TALENT!"

Randi Rhodes adds, "With Manzo at helm of Nova M, I am truly going to work for the best of the best. He is radio elite...and I am too . I'm home, I'm home, I'm home!"

"The Randi Rhodes Show" will air live Mon-Fri from 3-6pm Eastern on The Nova M Radio Network.

Comments

[msspurlock]

Now I have my answer.
I have always wondered if liberals were crass because they were liberals or liberals because they're crass.
These postings confirm it's both.
When you can't express yourself like an adult, you will always be a child.

[editorjuno]

...and the above pertains only to "liberals?" Do Coulter and Savage express themselves "like an adult" in your universe?

[nellie]

Projection. Just read your own post for proof.

[Ozy]

You sound like you are in Bakersfield. There is self help for that!

Liberals who fight for the country vs Cons who sell it out?

I will take the patriotic Lib over the traitor any day!

[msspurlock]

Oh yeah.
That's really what it's all about, you 10 watt bulb.
They're out to get you.
It's not because you're a screeching, hormonal lunatic harridan.
No.

[YellowDogInRedCounty]

WOW - Sounds like you can dish it out but you can't take it. Just like a typical Republican.

[shockmagog]

Wow, lady, take a powder already.

[UWBizKid]

So my question is when will the fire Jack Cafferty! I'm so sick of seeing that ugly face of his and the problem is we have to listen to his spew! They fire women, she should have been for saying something so stupid in the first place! It's like black comedians doing that self-deprecating crap! I've never listened to people who actually swear in their comedy. They are boing and lack originality so she was a loser to begin with.

I'm tired of the networks who have given over to people like these that actually think they are journalists! Then there are these femanazi women who actually think they are impressing other women because they say, "I'm woman enough to vote for the "BLACK GUY." Well that's just not cool! How about being WOMAN ENOUGH TO VOTE FOR THE WOMAN BECAUSE SHE'S SMARTER AND HAS MORE EXPERIENCE!

I refer to this as the largest Affirmative Action vote in history. I have to laugh at the media trying to dress up Louis Farrakhan now! They are really stretching it! How do you explain his admission that he was complicit in the Murder of Malcom X? Goodness the Democrats have lost their morality! and The news networks have gone all the way to the other side after THEY SOLD THE WAR TO BEGIN WITH...

QUEUE UP CNN, MSNBC FROM 2001 2002 ! See who supported the war effort then!

[Ozy]

Be affriad be very affriad. OF THE TRUTH? If Cafferty has the guts to say it we better listen!

[evekendall]

(Just a little humor on the side, Huffpo.) I couldn't resist your headline: "Randi Rhodes Blames Air America'a New Owners on Larry King. . ." I'm sure Larry King objects to the charge that he's responsible for Air America's new owners! Oh, those pesky misplaced modifiers! Maybe you meant: "On Larry King Show, Randi Rhodes Blames Air America's New Owners."

By the way, I see Huffpo has a story about The Daily Show's Jon Stewart giving Obama the "Dick Move of the Week" award!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/09/jon-stewart-awards-obama_n_95875.html

It seems there's a lot of outrage on both sides of these two stories. I wish we could get that outraged over the REAL issues.

[Aquarius]

I like Randy Rhodes because she relishes kicking ass on the so-called untouchables but I can't say I'm surprised at how this whole situation ended. There's such a thing as going too far and this time, believe it or not, Rhodes went too far. There are so many ways to diss Hillary without sinking to the lowest level of calling her a whore. Rhodes crossed a line of being more than outrageously outrageous. She sunk to lower than low. She thought she was untouchable.

[foreverleft]

When Coulter does it, "it's disgusting".

When Rhodes does it., "she's disgusted".

Good for us.

We are them.

[Hardguy]

There is no 'IT" that they have in common. That is your fiction.

[msspurlock]

Clearly not.
Which is foreverleft's point.

[cafemocha]

...This just goes to show you once again that you just can't sin on tape, or someone who hates you and the truth you tell will use that tape to slay you. BTW, that's why Bush/Cheney would not answer questions about 9/11 on tape, under oath, with a transcript, etc. What they would have to say would get them removed from their jobs! Meanwhile as for Hillary, HRC is what RR said, and much worse. And that's being kind to real F-ing W-s, none of whom have ever voted to kill thousands of people as did HRC. Brava Randi, we'll miss you, but look forward to hearing you wherever you end up broadcasting.

[foreverleft]

Sweet!

Where can I get one of those I can never be fired contracts?

Is it like a no bid sort of thing?

[rikkirighteous]

Too bad she's leaving because she is to me (like Code Pink) the perfect example of a liberal.

Her hate-filled spewing stream-of-consciousness rants against Bush and conservatives are hilarious. She can go on for entire segments saying stuff like: "Bush is Hitler and Cheney tortured woman at Gitmo and isn't it a crime that Condoleeca Rice kills babies while those who outed Valerie Plame walk around free to take away rights of gays to marry while they tap everyone's cell phones and plot to raise the price of gas" and on and on without a coherent thought or point to make.

I have to admit that after about ten minutes it does get a little too much. Like watching that high school girl on MTV struggle with Tourette's as she tries to lead a normal life. Sad, really.

[Hardguy]

Another one needs to learn to distinguish hate from disgust.

[rikkirighteous]

Agreed...she does need to learn that. Now it's just hate....

[bushmocker]

Hate filled spewing stream-of- consciousness rants=Truthful insights,BTW,aren't all those things you said true.Sounds like at the least you listen for whole segments.not just ten minutes.Hopefully you will come into the light someday,until then it's nice to know you're suffering.

[msspurlock]

And this is why Air America's a joke.
It'll never be anything but a continually bankrupt Goebbels-modeled rant fest for the bungled and botched.
It has no credibility and will never contribute anything meaningful.

[editorjuno]

Translation: msspurlock and rikkirighteous are loony right-wing trolls looking for attention who have never and will never listen to liberal talk radio even if featured "William F. Buckley's Greatest Hits" every hour on the hour.

[rgblue]

you're confused, msspuflock.

the bush administration uses Goebbels philosophy as a bible, not the "liberals". unfortunately it has worked brilliantly. one only has to read your post to see that, or look at the sheeple who worship at the FOX news false temple.

Goebbels may have been an inhuman monster which is right up cheney's/rove's / bush's alley, but he was a genius.

stop swallowing evil, it will seduce you and then destroy your soul, along with your reasoning power

[Ozy]

"Liberal"The perfect example of patriots who fight for or country in the streets not from the Con's on the couch with the remote stuck in their A$$!
The only sad thing is these nuts who are deaf as well as stupid but they did put the decider in office One for them?

[KatieBeGood]

I'm betting you have never in your life listened to Randi Rhode's whow. Your tirade is juvenile and imbecilic.

[helen]

I don't like what Randi said either. But it does sound like it was used to push her out of Air America. Yes, I think she should apologize, but that's not the whole story here. They wanted to amend the contract and were looking for leverage. Her actions, AA figured, gave them leverage. They were wrong.

In spite of Randi's remarks, she is still one of the top radio hosts in the country. Compare her remarks to the kind of misogynistic, sexist, and racist tripe spewed by Rush Limbaugh and other right wing talk show hosts, and she comes in a distant, distant, distant 3rd...

She blew it on her end of things. Air America blew it on their end of things.

Looks like a Lose, Lose to me. :(

On the other hand, I'd hang out with her anytime!

[nutmegger]

I'm an Obama supporter and I don't think what Randi said was at all appropriate. She should've been suspended - or fired - for her remarks. I HIGHLY doubt that anyone in the Obama camp condones what she did. There is just no need for anyone on the left to stoop to the level of those on the right to make a point, and Randi did just that. What is wrong with her, anyway? We need to focus more on the brilliantly talented voices we have available, like Rachel Maddow and Thom Hartmann (to name just a few) who tell it like it is, but with dignity and grace.

[Hardguy]

You would not even know what she said if management did not go out of their way to make an issue out of it --TWO WEEKS after the fact. There was no public outcry. Apparently the audience she was addressing, for the largest part, felt well served.

Now here you come after the fact to voice your displeasure. And to mis-state the facts. Randi has not stooped to the level of liars by telling the truth. It's ludicrous as is this hypersensitivity to a couple of words. Get out much?

But none of that matters if you are a big baby about a couple of harsh words that pretty well described the events.

[hoopesaz]

Why weren't the liberals standing up for Imus? Was that just "ludicrous...hypersensitivity to a couple of words."?

I personally could care less what Randi says. She has zero influence with me. But, her words offended half of the AA listeners. AA has a business to run. They have every right to show her the door. That's what this is really about.

[Marsangusidaho]

Thank you! Too many Obama supporters posting here have linked her to him, with the resulting formula being that if you support him, then you also should support everything she has said.
Obama seems to be a great guy. Randi Rhodes does not seem to be cut from the same cloth, and that's putting it mildly. As a Hillary supporter, I would never support someone who said such vile things about Sen. Obama.
Thanks for the demonstration of some reason here on behalf of Obama supporters. Obama or Clinton, we all need to come together in the end and win this race.

[Ozy]

In the context and Venue I condone it! It's called freedom of speech.!

Let's fight for that instead of trying to trample the rights of others for some puritanical micro view by silly people.
Look in the Mirror and ask who died and made me a god?

Listen once in a while it will be good for you and educational too.

I am for Obama as well but I know that he is for freedom of speech or in this case expression.

[ronconone]

To you Obama supporters who thinks Randi Rhodes's comment about Hillary was ok .....
Would you think it was be ok if Randi said that Obama was a pimp?? I don't think so ... Some things you just don't say ....

[Hardguy]

Explain how Obama is a pimp, and I'll tell you it's a fair descriptor.

[hoopesaz]

Ah, but it doesn't have to be a fair descriptor. I just has to be her opinion. If she voiced that opinion about Obama the liberal world would have exploded and Randi would be banished to a desert island and tagged as a racist.

[LawOfAttraction]

If Obama committed acts of pimposity the same way that Hillary and Ferraro committed acts of political whorishness (willing to sell their integrity, self respect, good name and decency and do whatever it takes, no matter how low, repugnant and disingenuous in order to win), then YES, I feel it would be fair game.

But since Obama HASN'T DONE ANYTHING but be an honest person of integrity and run a clean campaign unlike every politician that's come before him, then you CAN'T draw any such pimp parallel even if you WANTED to.

Plus, why would you choose "pimp"? Is that a subconscious Snoop Dog/Gansta rap/Pimp thing you're alluding to? Hmm...

Well, maybe he's a Hope Pimp. Or a Change Pimp. He's is after all a notorious Hopemonger.;-)

Haha.. Notorious B.H.O. :-D

[Amminadab]

Do you realize that the lies you use smear Hillary and Ferraro..... are just lies?

[Jjc2006]

Oh that's right. Obama walks on water. Does he change water to whine? Ooops...

Obama supporters are either pathetically naive or just blinded by some kind of right wing worship mentality.
Obama's campaign has been that...a campaign. His campaign accused Hillary Clinton of being a racist....that was race baiting at the lowest level. His campaign LIED about Hillary abandoning the people of NO. His campaign used sexist slurs to say why she won NH. Grow up and go buy a clue.

[AurigaRa]

"Whatever Randy does, she must do twice as well as the righties to be thought half as good. Luckily, this is not difficult."

If rethugs could ever wake up to the constant lies the right tells, they'd all be in 12 step programs.

[nypoet22]

what a monumental goof-up-fest. where oh where is howard stern when you need him?

[rosal]

Apologize? She shoud have gotten a bonus. She spoke nothing but the truth. She is not a blind follower, or a sold out. She'll be successful wherever she goes.