Halperin suspended indefinitely for calling the President "a dick"

Story by Politico
Video by Politico/MSNBC

MSNBC acted swiftly after its analyst, Mark Halperin, called the president a “dick” on the "Morning Joe" this morning, announcing that he would be “suspended indefinitely.”

“Mark Halperin's comments this morning were completely inappropriate and unacceptable,” read an MSNBC statement. “We apologize to the President, The White House and all of our viewers. We strive for a high level of discourse and comments like these have no place on our air. Therefore, Mark will be suspended indefinitely from his role as an analyst.”

Halperin, who had already apologized on the air this morning, said he agreed with the decision.

“I completely agree with everything in MSNBC’s statement about my remark,” he said. “I believe that the step they are taking in response is totally appropriate. Again, I want to offer a heartfelt and profound apology to the president, to my MSNBC colleagues, and to the viewers. My remark was unacceptable, and I deeply regret it.”

It’s not the first time that Halperin has used language about the president in a live media platform that he later had to apologize for.

In 2008, during an interview with Sirius Radio’s Bill Geddie, he said that John Edwards “thinks Obama is kind of a pussy.” He apologized on Time.com’s The Page, as the Huffington Post reported at the time.

“I’m sorry," he wrote. “In a live interview this week, I used a word I shouldn’t have. The fact that I was conveying other people’s words is no excuse for my lapse in judgment. It won’t happen again.”

Time has issued a statement:

Mark Halperin’s comments on air this morning were inappropriate and in no way reflective of TIME’s views. We have issued a warning to him that such behavior is unacceptable. Mark has appropriately apologized on air, via Twitter and on The Page.

And Halperin offers yet another apology, this time from his print employer:

I want to offer a heartfelt and profound apology to the president and the viewers of "Morning Joe." My remark was not funny. I deeply regret it.

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Question: Is there any other circumstance where another person would be "fired" for calling the President of the United States "a dick" (and as mentioned above in the Politico article, in 2008 Mark Halperin voiced on satellite radio that Edwards "thinks Obama is kind of a pussy") even after the subsequent, routine "I'm Sorry" media tour?