Put To Rest, And Moving Forward: The Redemption Of Rick Sanchez

by Mark Joyella | 12:02 pm, March 16th, 2011

» 36 comments

Sanchez, the Twitter-obsessed former anchor of CNN’s Rick’s List lost his job last fall just hours after giving an interview in which he called The Daily Show‘s Jon Stewart a “bigot” and suggested that Jews run CNN and the news media. He quickly gave interviews explaining and apologizing, and then stepped largely out of the spotlight.

Now nearly six months later, Sanchez seems to have achieved the unexpected: finding redemption from his harshest critic, the man who accused Sanchez of using his high visibility as a cable news anchor and author to spread hateful, anti-Semitic ideas. Abe Foxman, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League, writing “in my view, this…should put the matter to rest…I hope that you will now be able to move on with your life.”

Sanchez’s life derailed last September, when he sat down for a satellite radio interview and said the words that would cost him his job:

“Everybody that 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.”

The fallout came quickly. By the following afternoon, Sanchez was gone, cut loose by CNN with a blunt, two-line statement from the network. “Rick Sanchez is no longer with the company. We thank Rick for his years of service, and we wish him well.“

The speed of the decision was described on a website set up by “friends of Rick Sanchez,” who wrote “it’s fair to say that Rick was blindsided by all of this. One day, you’ve got a job you love. The next, you get a phone call finding out you’re unemployed. In an instant, Rick’s life changed.”

Sanchez, who’d been the butt of frequent Daily Show jokes–especially for a segment where Sanchez was tasered on air–immediately took every opportunity to apologize to viewers, to CNN, and to Stewart, insisting fourteen hour workdays had left him exhausted, and in the interview he’d been “tired and careless” and as a result answered the interviewer’s questions in “a mangled and inartful way.” He also blamed the media’s “gotcha” mentality where “comments like mine are blown up while the bigger, more important issues of our day are ignored.”

But last fall, Abe Foxman was hardly convinced, turning the word “bigot” back onto Sanchez himself, and in a column on the incident, expressing hopes that the anchor’s influence would fade, since Sanchez’s words captured an enduring–and dangerous–notion assigning Jews the blame for all kinds of problems:

As often is the case with these situations, it took an unguarded moment for Sanchez to reveal his own bigotry, ironically, in awkwardly fashioning the same accusation against another media type. And there it was again: the age-old conspiracy theory about Jewish control of the news media, this time brought to the fore by a well-known television personality with a loyal audience following on CNN.

What’s interesting about a person like Sanchez making this claim is that he is not an extremist, not a religious fanatic and not an ideologue.

But could Rick Sanchez be forgiven?

Friends urged Sanchez to keep his head down and wait it out. He decided to wade right into the mess he’d made. “This wasn’t a controversy or story where I just laid low, waiting for it to blow over,” Sanchez told Mediaite. “I wasn’t laying low, expecting it would fade. I certainly got that advice from many people, but I ignored it. That’s not the way I live my life.”

Sanchez says he’s spent more than five months reflecting, and trying to make amends by “reaching out, on my own and privately, to Jewish leaders all over the country. I’ve personally apologized to them and done my best to learn from each of them.”

And one of those people was Abe Foxman. In February, Sanchez and Foxman met to talk, and Sanchez formally apologized. He followed the meeting with a letter:

We spent a great deal of time talking about the power and importance of words. In my work as a broadcaster, I know and appreciate that power. Yet, one day several months ago, in my life outside the newsroom, I forgot how powerful and meaningful words can be.

During our meeting, not only did you show me how wrong those words were, but you explained to me why they were wrong, and you reminded me that words can echo long after they are spoken. You are right: it doesn’t matter what I meant or intended to say. What matters is that I conveyed a message that I never should have.

My words were just plain wrong—wrong because they do not reflect what I believe, wrong because they do not reflect what is in my heart, and wrong because they conjure up some of the worst and most dangerous stereotypes of Jews, stereotypes that have been the cause of horrific atrocities committed against the Jewish people.

Ironically, there are no words strong enough for me to express my regret and sorrow over what I said. It was offensive, and I deeply, sincerely and unequivocally apologize for the hurt that I have caused.

Foxman accepted the apology and wrote his own letter, for the first time opening the door for Sanchez’s return:

“I appreciate your willingness to look squarely at the incident that took place, to apologize for it, and to be willing to learn about the forms and threats of anti-Semitism,” Foxman wrote. “In my view, this letter should put the matter to rest. I hope that you will now be able to move on with your life and to work, as we do every day, to make this a better and more respectful world.”

“Abe was certainly one of my harshest critics, but also perhaps the fairest because I don’t think he passed judgment on me as a person,” Sanchez says, vowing to work with Foxman “on important issues improving Jewish-Latino relations. I want to do my best to demonstrate my sincerity and make a difference. That’s not something only for now or in just in the short term. It’s a lifetime commitment on my part.”

Sanchez understands even a letter that “puts to rest” the controversy will not immediately lead to a new network news job. And Sanchez knows his efforts to apologize will be written off by critics as nothing more genuine than an orchestrated public relations campaign. But he insists his heart’s in the right place, and the words he’s choosing–very carefully–are exactly the ones he means. “I tell my children that when they make a mistake, they should take responsibility, atone and work to repair whatever they have done. For the past several months, I have followed that same advice and tried to be an example for them. I cannot take back what I said. I cannot undo the offense or controversy I caused; all I can do is to try and learn from this experience and strive to become a better person.”

Abe Foxman, ADL, Anti-Defamation League, CNN, rick sanchez

skyfet

What Sanchez said in Public is very silly and a carrier suicide, but I have no business with Foxman. Foxman and his cronies have no credibility, they criticize some issue they don’t like and turn a blind eye to another.
Lover

Finally, I can rest.
BadGenome

It’s good that Rick is taking responsibility for harming Jewish-Latino relations, but what about the damage he did to Jewish-Retard relations? (Identity politics confuse me!)
Thelonious Funk

“insisting fourteen hour workdays had left him exhausted”

I thought this just made you cheat on your wife.

Or wives.
BadGenome

Thelonious Funk said:
“insisting fourteen hour workdays had left him exhausted”

I thought this just made you cheat on your wife.

Or wives.

Only if you love America. Rick only loves himself.
Cecelia

Though Rick Sanchez has much in common with a “box of rocks”, he’s so damn good-looking that he deserves forgiveness and maybe a Pulitzer…(and if the boy had sense enough to have dissed Sara Palin and invoked Christians in high places with theocratic aspirations of world domination, he might have won one).
goldmind

This speaks to why the egos in Hollyweird & Media, are so frail. They walk the perpetual tightrope of doing exactly what their media overseers demand. They have no life outside the eye of the camera and their scripted existence.
Much like pets, they do the bidding of neurotic fans and the goons in charge of their contracts. A huge part of why media is a phony medium, and all of it’s proponents a bunch of dangling puppets. Sure they have lavish lifestyles, but who wants to wake up each day with a politically correct balloon up their arse?
http://TheDividedStatesBlog.com Publius219

It’s like the South Park episode “With apologies to Jesse Jackson.”

Rick just had to kiss it.
ScienceAddicto

I hate to get off topic here but there’s some more good news for our current great POTUS.

“WSJ: Analysts predict 7.7% unemployment by November 2012″
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703555404576195030362085382.html

Well golly jenkins,that second term is looking more and likely…. lol
Cecelia

BadGenome said:
but what about the damage he did to Jewish-Retard relations? (Identity politics confuse me!)

Well, it’s not just any ole “retard” we’re speaking of here.

It’s jewish-loud-mouthed retards who voice-Nazi conspiracy theories relations

I’d venture to say that those relations were already in the toilet…and that Rick’s particular ethnicity rightly mattered not an iota…
DEFENDER-90

Friends of Rick Sanchez—”it’s fair to say that Rick was blindsided by all of this,in an instant Rick’s life changed”

Friends of Rick Sanchez, why dont you ask JEFFEY SMUZINICK about how his “life changed” and being”blindsided”? Oh that’s right you cant he’s DEAD!!!!!!!
ScienceAddicto

ScienceAddicto said:
Well golly jenkins,that second term is looking more and likely…. lol

Typo! Should read “more and more likely…” and i do apologize for inserting “golly jenkins”.I just finished watching a two hour marathon of The Waltons:)
goldmind

ScienceAddicto said:
I hate to get off topic here but there’s some more good news for our current great POTUS.

“WSJ: Analysts predict 7.7% unemployment by November 2012″
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703555404576195030362085382.html

Well golly jenkins,that second term is looking more and likely…. lol

Really…and what brand of delusional coffee do you drink? can jobs stop earthquakes, nuclear fallout, war and the perpetual shrinking dollar?
Paul G

Lover said:
Finally, I can rest.

Ha! me2 WHEW!
rick who?
goldmind

Case in point…look at this pathetic video of Sally Field’s, winning her second oscar. Prior to the win…she really thought everybody hated her. Why do we support people like this…they need help.
goldmind

Accuse me:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1jr47CCtBQ
Armageddon T Thunderbird

Rick Sanchez is such a stupid and pathetic waste of skin. This idiot is nothing more than a pro-amnesty illegal alien loving fool who has no real true journalistic integrity. I say keep idiots like this off the air.
Paul G

Paul G said:
Ha! me2 WHEW!
rick who?

Who’s the one that gave me a thumbs down?? Rick? was that you? LMAO
J Baustian

Armageddon T Thunderbird said:
Rick Sanchez is such a stupid and pathetic waste of skin. This idiot is nothing more than a pro-amnesty illegal alien loving fool who has no real true journalistic integrity. I say keep idiots like this off the air.

He is not very bright — remember when he got confused about the volcano in Iceland, and wondered how a volcano could erupt in such a cold environment?

As for Mr Foxman — there is an increasing acceptance of anti-Jewish sentiment in the mainstream media, as exemplified by the recent NPR episode. So Mr Foxman has his work cut out for him and must be exceptionally vigilant, even at the risk of appearing overly sensitive at times.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Dronetek-Bulk-Vanderhuge/100000918732763 Dronetek

“Sanchez seems to have achieved the unexpected”

A fellow left wing in the media being forgiven for bigoted/stupid comment? This is unexpected to you? I’d say its a very predictable outcome….
SirReal

Sanchez didn’t imply anything that wasn’t said before but since he’s a goy ……
Speaking of Uncle Abe -

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/celebrity/la-oe-stein19-2008dec19,0,2313474.column
http://www.facebook.com/people/Bob-Hubble/100001340708758 Bob Hubble

Some Jewish fellow has forgiven this clown for being what he is? Well, good for that guy. As for the rest of us, Sanchez can stay in obscurity.
writer

A buddy told me to get a book from Solstice Publishing called Redemption. It was good, but it was about a serial killer, not Rick Sanchez.
BadGenome

writer said:
A buddy told me to get a book from Solstice Publishing called Redemption. It was good, but it was about a serial killer, not Rick Sanchez.

Yeah, unless we count people who have hanged themselves out of despair for humanity while watching his program, Rick has only killed one guy so far.
writer

The guy in the book was an escaped serial killer posing as a preacher. He killed lots and lots.
Puter Boi

Jeffrey Smuzinick could not be reached for comment.
MrTPar_taY

Hey Sanchez go find Al Campanis.
Paul G

Paul G said:
Who’s the one that gave me a thumbs down?? Rick? was that you? LMAO

Seriously…? now 2 thumbs down? Rick? You have 2 names here?
http://TheDividedStatesBlog.com Publius219

This is only a test. Christians like touching little kids. Muslims blow stuff up. Sikhs wear funny hats. Scientology is a cult.
NeoKong

That was some damn fine groveling. I guess Rickie doesn’t like living amongst the mere mortals and realizes that male models with multi-million dollar TV pundits shows are easily replaced.
Pathetic.
They took away his big TV salary and he doesn’t know what to do with himself.
Paleoconservatarian

When was Abe Foxman made the arbiter of redemption? Sure, Sanchez apologized to the ADL, but did he apologize to us for his frequently obtuse observations and ignorant reporting? The guy was a boob and the comment about Jews only brought the typical Sanchez’s style into a harsher light. For my part, he’s rehabilitated enough to do traffic reports from Omaha, Nebraska because he’s proved he can’t handle the big desk.
Newman Gato

It only comes out of your mouth when it is already in your heart. He hasn’t changed his opinion. I saw him one day when he was called in on breaking news and he really, really looked and acted like a guy who was not just the regular douche I expected but also a guy who appeared to be on something not widely available, unless your name is Tony Montana. Either way, highly over-promoted hackarista. Adios y buen viaje, pendejo.
http://TheDividedStatesBlog.com Publius219

Newman Gato said:
It only comes out of your mouth when it is already in your heart. He hasn’t changed his opinion. I saw him one day when he was called in on breaking news and he really, really looked and acted like a guy who was not just the regular douche I expected but also a guy who appeared to be on something not widely available, unless your name is Tony Montana. Either way, highly over-promoted hackarista. Adios y buen viaje, pendejo.

And how, pray tell, do you know what someone on cocaine would look like? Movies?
http://TheDividedStatesBlog.com Publius219

Part 2: Jews are disproportionately represented at powerful places within US society relative to their overall % of the population. There are any number of possible reasons for this, conspiratorial and non-conspiratorial alike, but to deny this is to deny reality.
J Baustian

Publius219 said:
Part 2: Jews are disproportionately represented at powerful places within US society relative to their overall % of the population. There are any number of possible reasons for this, conspiratorial and non-conspiratorial alike, but to deny this is to deny reality.

I guess it all depends on whether you think there is a conspiracy, and whether this conspiracy is harmful to a group you belong to.
John Challender

Everyone who is in the Public spotlight is subject to close scrutinty at all levels. Rick Sanchez’s little tirade of frustration left him without a job and credibility with the veiwing public. I really don’t think Rick deserves any more harrassment from the media for this little tirade. I also don’t think Rick was expressing his true feelings when he spoke. He appears to me to be a very hard working talented man who was lashing out when he was suffering from lack of sleep and exhaustion. So, lets lay of the man and move on. I’ve been in the same situation and I don’t doubt that most people can say in honesty that they haven’t also.