HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Radio host Dr. Laura Schlessinger has apologized for repeatedly using the N-word during an on-air conversation with a caller this week.
"I talk every day about doing the right thing. And yesterday, I did the wrong thing," Schlessinger said on her radio show Wednesday. "I didn’t intend to hurt people, but I did. And that makes it the wrong thing to have done."
"I was attempting to make a philosophical point, and I articulated the ‘n’ word all the way out – more than one time. And that was wrong," she continued. "I’ll say it again – that was wrong."
Schlessinger was referring to a call she got a day earlier from an African-American woman who said she was married to a white man and was getting fed up with her husband allowing his family and friends to say things that she felt were racist. When the woman asked if the N-word was offensive, Dr. Laura said, "black guys say it all the time." The host then went on to repeat the racial slur several times.
Schlessinger also told the caller that she needed to lighten up.
"If you’re that hypersensitive about color and don’t have a sense of humor, don’t marry out of your race," the host said.
"I ended up, I’m sure, with many of you losing the point I was trying to make, because you were shocked by the fact that I said the word," Dr. Laura said in her apology. "I, myself, realized I had made a horrible mistake, and was so upset I could not finish the show. I pulled myself off the air at the end of the hour. I had to finish the hour, because 20 minutes of dead air doesn’t work. I am very sorry. And it just won’t happen again."
