Last Friday, CNN finally got around to firing their resident doofus, Rick Sanchez. Sanchez made a name for himself on CNN by saying really dumb sh-t, and for this now infamous, hilarious video of cops laughing at him while they taser him. Anyway, Rick was finally sh-tcanned because he totally went off on an anti-Semitic rant during a radio interview. He was being asked about Jon Stewart, and somehow that got Sanchez thinking about how Jews control the media (audio at Gawker here, I also put the full interview at the bottom):

CNN’s Rick Sanchez was fired Friday after telling an interviewer that ‘The Daily Show’ host Jon Stewart is a bigot and that “everybody that runs CNN is a lot like Stewart,” The New York Times reports. Sanchez, a daytime anchor on the network, was making an appearance on comedian Pete Dominick’s satellite radio show Thursday when he made the disparaging comments.

After calling Stewart a bigot, Sanchez, who is frequently mocked on ‘The Daily Show,’ continued his tirade. Even when Dominick pointed out that Stewart is Jewish and a minority too, Sanchez kept going, saying, “I’m telling you that everybody who runs CNN is a lot like Stewart, and 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.”

Audio of the interview went viral immediately and it wasn’t long before the anchor was let go from the network. Late Friday, CNN released the following statement: “Rick Sanchez is no longer with the company. We thank Rick for his years of service and we wish him well.”

Sanchez appeared on Dominick’s radio show as part of a tour promoting his book, ‘Conventional Idiocy.’ He hasn’t responded to requests for comment about the interview or his dismissal.

[From PopEater]

Ugh. Well… at least CNN fired him, right? Of course, they should have done that a while ago. Anyway, last night Jon Stewart and many, many other celebrities took part in an autism charity event last night, and Jon managed to get in a few digs about Sanchez:

Jon Stewart stayed mum during the recent commotion over at CNN, where Rick Sanchez was fired this week (after a six-year career at the network) because of inflammatory — now infamous — remarks he made on a satellite radio program about Stewart’s ethnicity and upbringing.

However, at a fundraiser in New York City last night, the stand-up comic in Stewart couldn’t resist making a few cracks about the controversy.

Playing emcee for the taping of Comedy Central’s ‘Night of Too Many Stars’ (airing Oct. 21), the ‘Daily Show’ star entreated viewers to donate to the cause of autism education, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Then he qualified the request, joking: “If you went on radio and said the Jews control the media…you may want to hold on to your money.”

In a clear reference to Sanchez (and his caustic public comments saying that people who are Jewish wield power at TV networks), Stewart added, “All he has to do is apologize to us, and we’ll hire him back.”

The aptly titled ‘Too Many Stars’ benefit was indeed lousy with comedy’s biggest names, including appearances by Tina Fey, Chris Rock, Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon and Tracy Morgan.

David Letterman made a punchline out of the CNN brouhaha, too, telling the crowd he was in town just “helping Rick Sanchez clean out his office.”

And making an appearance at the performance, even wry, retired anchor Tom Brokaw reportedly ribbed Sanchez while onstage.

[From PopEater]

I like the second one – “All he has to do is apologize to us, and we’ll hire him back.” It’s good that people are already making fun of Sanchez, because he totally deserves it, and laughing about it is better than having a “serious discussion” about anti-Semitism and the media. I just listened to the full interview excerpt (below), and this guy’s stupidity knows no bounds. He thinks he doesn’t have the career he wants because “guys like Stewart” keep him down – it’s like he’s never acknowledged that his own prissy martyr complex and unending stupidity is one of the big reasons he doesn’t have the career he wants. Here’s the interview: