When will they learn? By "they," we mean TV and
radio hosts who might be secretly racist. And, the lesson they should have learned by now is that if you let fly an offensive remark, no matter how funny you
think you're being, you are going to have to pay. The latest big mouth to demonstrate
this fact is Rodner Figueroa, a cohost of Univision's Sal y Pimienta and a
commentator on El Gordo y La Flaca.
During a segment about Paolo Ballesteros, the
makeup artist who Instagrams photos of himself transforming into famous women,
Figueroa made a horrifying comment about Ballesteros' pics of first lady Michelle Obama.
"Mind
you, you know that Michelle Obama looks like she's part of the cast of Planet
of the Apes, the film," Figueroa said. At which point, cohost Raúl de Molina
tried to talk over him and mention how attractive Obama is.
"You remember the movie?" Figueroa
pushed on. For real, he couldn't even let Molina save him.
By Wednesday night, Figueroa was canned. "On
Univision, there is no space for racist commentary," an executive told
People en Español. And, E! had a more elaborate statement by Thursday morning:
"Yesterday during our entertainment program El Gordo y La Flaca, Rodner Figueroa made comments regarding First Lady Michelle Obama that
were completely reprehensible and in no way reflect Univision's values or
views. As a result, Mr. Figueroa was immediately terminated."
So immediately, in fact, that all traces of him
have been wiped from the network's website. Bien hecho, Univision. But, if you really want to see the clip, The Huffington Post has this bootleg version: