In March 2006, Gov. Bill Richardson was on the Imus show and used a gay slur during the broadcast. Richardson apologized for the remark yesterday:
SPARKS, Nev. — Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson said Thursday his use of a Spanish word that some contend is a slur against homosexuals was meant to be playful but apologized to anyone who was offended.
With critics revisiting the statement he made on a radio program a year ago, Richardson questioned the timing of their comments.
Well, maybe the timing has something to do with Richardson running for President of the United States, but that’s just a guess.
Richardson’s explanation, however, doesn’t really explain things:
In a statement this week, Richardson said that in the Spanish he grew up speaking, “the term means simply ‘gay,’ not positive or negative.”
He told the AP on Thursday: “It was a playful exchange between me and Don Imus that was not intended to demean anybody, but if I offended anybody, I apologize.”
Here’s the exchange that prompted the remark from the Governor:
[Imus] jokingly said one of his staffers suggested Richardson was “not really Hispanic.”
Richardson replied in Spanish that if the staffer believes that, then he is a “maricon.”
There’s no other way to interpret the way “maricon” was used other than as a slur, which makes what Richardson said much worse than what Imus lost his job over.