LATEST HATEFUL COMMENTS MAY COST BRYANT GUMBEL HIS JOB AT NFL NETWORK

Alexandria, VAAfter insulting his employers and others at the NFL Network through another program, HBOs Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, former NBC reporter Bryant Gumbel may now be fired, according to the Aug. 22 Washington Post. Outgoing NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue noted that things Gumbel said about Gene Upshaw and the [NFL] owners are about as uninformed as anything Ive read or heard in a long, long time and quite inexcusable because they are subjects about which you can and should be better informed.

Concerning this, Media Research Center President Brent Bozell said: Bryant Gumbel has a long history of making outrageous, hateful, and left-wing statements that bear little relation to reality. Here at the MRC weve documented Mr. Gumbels absurd propaganda and grossly biased reporting for years. Because of his poisonous, vindictive statements, Mr. Gumbel failed as a journalist and has hopped from job to job, and now it looks like he may lose his NFL Network gig. Good riddance.

Some of Bryant Gumbels incendiary comments over the years have included the following:

• For the Olympics, try not to laugh when someone says these are the world's greatest athletes, despite a paucity of blacks that makes the Winter Games look like a GOP convention. Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, Feb. 7, 2006

• The bombing in Oklahoma City has focused renewed attention on the rhetoric thats been coming from the right and those who cater to angry white men. While no ones suggesting right-wing radio jocks approve of violence, the extent to which their approach fosters violence is being questioned by many observers, including the President. Right-wing talk show hosts like Rush Limbaugh, Bob Grant, Oliver North, G. Gordon Liddy, Michael Reagan, and others take to the air every day with basically the same format: detail a problem, blame the government or a group, and invite invective from like-minded people. Never do most of the radio hosts encourage outright violence, but the extent to which their attitudes may embolden and encourage some extremists has clearly become an issue. Today, April 25, 1995.

• You called Gingrich and his ilk, your words, trickle-down terrorists who base their agenda on division, exclusion, and fear. Do you think middle class Americans are in need of protection from that group? - Today, to newly elected House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, Jan. 4, 1995

• Youre aligned to a party which owes many of its victories to the so-called religious right and other conservative extremists who are historically insensitive to minority concerns. That doesnt bother you? - Today, to U.S. Rep.-elect J.C. Watts (R-Okla.), Nov. 9, 1994

• George Bush has been at the focal point of incidents that have exacerbated race relations in this country....the Willie Horton affair, for example. Making affirmative action a front-and-center proposal. Constantly discussing welfare as a problem in this country. Things that really separate the races rather than bring them together. Today, May 18, 1992

• We keep looking for some good to come out of this. Maybe it might help in putting race relations back on the front burner after theyve been subjugated so long as a result of the Reagan years. - on the Los Angeles riots, April 30, 1992, Today (Gumbel refused to condemn the rioters)

• Blacks have looked at the past eight years and seen [the Reagan] administration retreat from civil rights, retreat from affirmative action foster a spirit of racism that hasnt been seen in 20-plus years. Today, Jan. 19, 1989,

For more information on Bryant Gumbel, go to www.mrc.org.