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American Morning

Limbaugh Resigns

Aired October 02, 2003 - 09:05   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Roy Johnson is the assistant managing editor for "Sports Illustrated." He's with us back here on AMERICAN MORNING.
Twenty-four hours ago, you say there, I was sitting here, we were talking about -- what happened in the afternoon.

ROY S. JOHNSON, "SPORTS ILLUSTRATED": What a day. What a day. I think what happened is it became clear this was not going away quickly. People began to see that, you know, this was Al Campana, Jimmy the Greek Schneider, and now Rush Limbaugh in the sports broadcasting hall of shame. Then he came out with this just defiant reaction within the comfy cocoon -- after refusing to speak to anyone -- in the comfy cocoon of his own show, just defiant, and I think people reacted to that as well.

And suddenly, late last night, the storm -- ESPN and Disney just could not stand the storm any longer. Perhaps, we don't know for sure, but certainly you have to think that there were some very strong conversations, and suddenly he resigned.

HEMMER: I thought this statement was interesting, "This opinion has caused discomfort to the crew." I'm assuming the crew, and we don't know the answer to this, is people like Michael Irvin, Steve Young, Chris Berman, the guys in the broadcast with him.

JOHNSON: Absolutely. It starts there, but that crew could be much bigger than that.

HEMMER: It's possible these guys came out and the afternoon, and said, you know, we can't do the broadcast next weekend if this continues to be an issue out there, not just for ESPN, but for the country.

JOHNSON: What boggles my mind, as many people have pointed out, this should not have been a surprise at all. This is a man with some of the most divisive opinions out there. Certainly has made him popular with his listeners. So was brought onto the show, it was very clear that they wanted this perspective. What's perhaps only surprising, is that it took four weeks for it to blow up, and that it blew up so quickly.

HEMMER: What do you say to people who say, you know what, it was free speech, he exercised his right, and as you point out, ESPN brought him on board, they knew he was controversial from the start. That's in part the reason why he was brought on board. He's a big football fan. There's a huge listening audience across the country. JOHNSON: Well, a couple of things. It is a wonderful thing, free speech. He certainly has the right to his opinion. Free also speech gives the right to people to criticize. Free speech does not any mitigate accountability. We all know when we go on the air and have these microphones on, that anything we say can and could be used against us, if, in fact, it is incorrect, is insulting and offends a number of people, so we are all careful when we go on the air, so just because you have the right to free speech and the right to your opinion doesn't mean you aren't accountability for what you say.

HEMMER: Truth be known, you never liked him from the start, right?

JOHNSON: I never liked him on this show. I wrote in an article over a month ago when the show first came on the air, that I didn't think the place was right for him to be on a football show. And I said that because, here's again, someone with divisive opinions. When people go to sporting events everyday in this country, they leave their views at the door. You go to games and you see homeboys and Wall Street cats high-fiving. They don't talk about, you know, the recall election, or affirmative action or abortion, and they leave those things at the door. That's what sports does for us. It gives us a place to escape.

To introduce this element into that format was a recipe for disaster, one that many people -- and you know, I among them, talked about at the very beginning, and certainly one that came to fruition this weekend.

HEMMER: You never watched the show either, did you?

JOHNSON: Well, I told readers, that because I did not want to see Rush Limbaugh, I was not going to watch it, and I didn't. Certainly, I will be interested to see, like many other people, how they move on , and I will watch the show now.

HEMMER: Thanks, Roy. Roy Johnson. A good program, too, by the way. Thanks.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired October 2, 2003 - 09:05   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Roy Johnson is the assistant managing editor for "Sports Illustrated." He's with us back here on AMERICAN MORNING.
Twenty-four hours ago, you say there, I was sitting here, we were talking about -- what happened in the afternoon.

ROY S. JOHNSON, "SPORTS ILLUSTRATED": What a day. What a day. I think what happened is it became clear this was not going away quickly. People began to see that, you know, this was Al Campana, Jimmy the Greek Schneider, and now Rush Limbaugh in the sports broadcasting hall of shame. Then he came out with this just defiant reaction within the comfy cocoon -- after refusing to speak to anyone -- in the comfy cocoon of his own show, just defiant, and I think people reacted to that as well.

And suddenly, late last night, the storm -- ESPN and Disney just could not stand the storm any longer. Perhaps, we don't know for sure, but certainly you have to think that there were some very strong conversations, and suddenly he resigned.

HEMMER: I thought this statement was interesting, "This opinion has caused discomfort to the crew." I'm assuming the crew, and we don't know the answer to this, is people like Michael Irvin, Steve Young, Chris Berman, the guys in the broadcast with him.

JOHNSON: Absolutely. It starts there, but that crew could be much bigger than that.

HEMMER: It's possible these guys came out and the afternoon, and said, you know, we can't do the broadcast next weekend if this continues to be an issue out there, not just for ESPN, but for the country.

JOHNSON: What boggles my mind, as many people have pointed out, this should not have been a surprise at all. This is a man with some of the most divisive opinions out there. Certainly has made him popular with his listeners. So was brought onto the show, it was very clear that they wanted this perspective. What's perhaps only surprising, is that it took four weeks for it to blow up, and that it blew up so quickly.

HEMMER: What do you say to people who say, you know what, it was free speech, he exercised his right, and as you point out, ESPN brought him on board, they knew he was controversial from the start. That's in part the reason why he was brought on board. He's a big football fan. There's a huge listening audience across the country. JOHNSON: Well, a couple of things. It is a wonderful thing, free speech. He certainly has the right to his opinion. Free also speech gives the right to people to criticize. Free speech does not any mitigate accountability. We all know when we go on the air and have these microphones on, that anything we say can and could be used against us, if, in fact, it is incorrect, is insulting and offends a number of people, so we are all careful when we go on the air, so just because you have the right to free speech and the right to your opinion doesn't mean you aren't accountability for what you say.

HEMMER: Truth be known, you never liked him from the start, right?

JOHNSON: I never liked him on this show. I wrote in an article over a month ago when the show first came on the air, that I didn't think the place was right for him to be on a football show. And I said that because, here's again, someone with divisive opinions. When people go to sporting events everyday in this country, they leave their views at the door. You go to games and you see homeboys and Wall Street cats high-fiving. They don't talk about, you know, the recall election, or affirmative action or abortion, and they leave those things at the door. That's what sports does for us. It gives us a place to escape.

To introduce this element into that format was a recipe for disaster, one that many people -- and you know, I among them, talked about at the very beginning, and certainly one that came to fruition this weekend.

HEMMER: You never watched the show either, did you?

JOHNSON: Well, I told readers, that because I did not want to see Rush Limbaugh, I was not going to watch it, and I didn't. Certainly, I will be interested to see, like many other people, how they move on , and I will watch the show now.

HEMMER: Thanks, Roy. Roy Johnson. A good program, too, by the way. Thanks.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com