February 9, 2012 | Online

CNN pundit suspended for homophobic tweets

CNN suspended political analyst Roland Martin yesterday because of two homophobic tweets he made during the Super Bowl.

When the David Beckham underwear ad came on, Martin commented: "If a dude at your Super Bowl party is hyped about David Beckham's H&M underwear ad, smack the ish out of him."

And when he saw a football fan in a pink suit, he tweeted: "Who the hell was that New England Patriot they just showed in a head to toe pink suit? Oh, he needs a visit from #teamwhipdatass."

GLAAD demanded Martin be fired for the comments, saying they advocated violence against gays.

Martin, however, claimed (in the David Beckham case, at least) he was simply making a joke about soccer, and in no way condoned violence.  

He later apologized. "I'm disheartened that my words would embolden prejudice," Martin said.

Calling Martin's remarks "regrettable and offensive" CNN said he would not be on air "for the time being."

"Language that demeans is inconsistent with the values and culture of our organization, and is not tolerated," CNN explained.

Maybe a grown man who wears an ascot should keep his tweets to himself.

Roland Martin suspended from CNN after homophobic tweets during Super Bowl [New York Daily News]