Talk Show Host Calls Congresswoman McKinney a ‘Ghetto Slut'


Conservative Talk Show Host Neal Boortz has offended Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.) by saying she looks like a “ghetto slut” and African-Americans in general by saying her hairstyle “looks like an explosion in a Brillo pad.”

MediaMatters.org provided the following March 31 exchange of The Neal Boortz Show between Boortz, his producer Belinda Skelton and fellow host Royal Marshall:

BOORTZ: For instance, or for goodness sakes, jump in and I'm gonna say -- I'm gonna start out with something controversial. I saw Cynthia McKinney's new hair-do. Have you seen it, Belinda?

SKELTON: No.

BOORTZ: She looks like a ghetto slut.

SKELTON: Well, how is it?

BOORTZ: It's just -- it's hideous.

SKELTON: Is it braided? Or --

BOORTZ: No, it's not braided. It just flies away from her head in every conceivable direction. It looks like an explosion in a Brillo pad factory. It's just hideous. To me, that hairstyle just shows contempt for -- no, it's not an Afro. I mean, no, it just shows contempt for the position that she holds and the body that she serves in. And, I'm sorry, there's just no other way to -- it's just a hideous and horrible looking --

MARSHALL: Her hairstyle?

BOORTZ: Yeah, the hairstyle. It just, it looks like an explosion. Have you seen it?

MARSHALL: Yeah, I like it.

BOORTZ: Oh, jeez.

MARSHALL: It looks better than the braids she was wearing.

BOORTZ: No, the braids had some dignity. They had some class.

MARSHALL: The braids had dignity?

BOORTZ: They had more class than this thing.

MARSHALL: This says, you know, kinda 2000s, you know, stepping up to the plate. Contemporary look, you know?

BOORTZ: She looks like Tina Turner peeing on an electric fence.

MARSHALL: OK, so you don't like her hair.

BOORTZ: Yeah, OK, I don't like her hair. I'm sorry.

MARSHALL: That being said, I think a lot of people would say it looks a lot better than those cornrows she was wearing. You can't tell me that's dignified.

BOORTZ: Well, I'm not a big cornrow fan but I got used to her with that. OK?

MARSHALL: So she's staying the same for you?

BOORTZ: She looks like a shih tzu!

MARSHALL: I like Cynthia's new hairstyle.

BOORTZ: Well, there you go. Differing opinions.

To hear this segment:
http://clips.mediamatters.org/static/audio/boortz-20060331.mp3

As if saying McKinney looked like a “ghetto slut” wasn’t insulting enough, Boortz also accused the Congresswoman of looking like a “welfare drag queen.”


From a transcript of the March 31 broadcast of Cox Radio Syndication's The Neal Boortz Show, as provided by the watchdog group, Media Matters:

BOORTZ: OK. Now, I'm going to repeat something that I said a little bit earlier. I've been enduring jokes about my lack of hair for years, so I am absolutely privileged and entitled. This is not white privilege, this is bald privilege. I am privileged and entitled to say anything I want about anybody else's hairdo. I saw Cynthia McKinney's hairdo yesterday -- saw it on TV. I don't blame that cop for stopping her. It looked like a welfare drag queen was trying to sneak into the Longworth House Office Building. That hairdo is ghetto trash. I don't blame them for stopping her.
Now, let's see if Media Matters will pick up on that one. "Boortz calls McKinney welfare drag queen." [laughs] So, well, that's why I do things like that, just to give them something to write about.

To hear this segment, go to: http://clips.mediamatters.org/static/audio/boortz-20060331-repeat.mp3


Contact information:
Neal Boortz E-mail form
1-877-310-2100
The Neal Boortz Show
1601 W. Peachtree Street
Atlanta, Georgia 30309

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