Rick Sanchez Says Jews Control the Media, Calls Jon Stewart a Bigot

After years of toiling in the Miami TV market and a short stint on MSNBC, former WSVN anchor Rick Sanchez had finally made it to the big time with his own popular show on CNN. Of course the guy has become known for his embarrassing gaffes, but in his latest misstep he's implied that Jews control the media and called The Daily Show host Jon Stewart a bigot. Jeez, this is probably his biggest mistake since that time he was driving drunk after a Dolphins game and hit a guy with his car.

Sanchez was on Pete Dominick's Sirius radio show yesterday when the topic turned to Stewart. Like most cable news talking head, Stewart often ribs Sanchez's manic CNN show. Most anchors take the humorous criticism in stride, but Sanchez took the opportunity to segue into an antisemitic rant.

Here's audio of the exchange from Mediaite:

Here's how The Huffington Post described what went down:

The conversation began with Sanchez decrying "elite, Northeast establishment liberals" who "deep down, when they look at a guy like me, they see a guy automatically who belongs in the second tier, and not the top tier.

"I think to some extent Jon Stewart and [Stephen] Colbert are the same way. I think Jon Stewart's a bigot," he said.

Dominick pressed Sanchez, a Cuban-American, to explain exactly how Stewart is a bigot.

Dominick: How is he a bigot?

Sanchez: I think he looks at the world through, his mom, who was a school teacher, and his dad, who was a physicist or something like that. Great, I'm so happy that he grew up in a suburban middle class New Jersey home with everything you could ever imagine.

Dominick: What group is he bigoted towards?

Sanchez: Everybody else who's not like him. Look at his show, I mean, what does he surround himself with?

Sanchez later retracted his use of the word "bigot," but said Stewart is "prejudicial" and "uninformed."

The host suggested that as a Jew, Stewart knows what it's like to be part of a suppressed minority. Sanchez wasn't having any of that reasoning.

Very powerless people... [snickers] He's such a minority, I mean, you know [sarcastically]... Please, what are you kidding? ... 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. [sarcastically]

Stewart has been temporarily hosting CNN's 8 p.m. broadcast while the station was readying its new show, Parker Spitzer. He still has his mid-afternoon Twitter-fueled Rick's List hour, but we kind of have to wonder if CNN will let him continue after remarks like that.

[Mediaite: Rick Sanchez Calls Jon Stewart "A Bigot"; Says CNN Is Run By Jews]
[HuffPo: Rick Sanchez: Jon Stewart A 'Bigot,' Jews Run CNN & All Media]
[Gawker: Rick Sanchez Melts Down, Says Jews Control the Media]