Lee Cruse Fired

Bacon1450

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Bottom line is we live in one of the softest society's I've ever remembered. No one has any backbone anymore.
It's not just that. Trying to be respectful and sensitive to others isn't a bad thing and Lee needed to be better.

The bigger issue is that forgiveness has been forgotten. Mistakes can't be made anymore and it's one strike and you're out. That isn't right. It's not Christian. It's not sustainable.
 
Apr 13, 2002
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They didn't wait until after the point of anyone caring. They did it, after what i can only assume, was due to tne outcry by the new, and mostly uninformed, "mob mentality PC" section of society.

But that's my point - what little outcry there was died completely down by the time they actually fired him. If firing him was in response to an outcry, it should've been way sooner when people cared.
 
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ukupay1

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These knee jerk reactions are becoming standard business practice. The good should be considered as well as the bad. They have a right to handle this but I respectfully disagree and as a advertiser with them I will take this into consideration as we move forward with wlex.
 

CatsFanGG24

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Dec 22, 2003
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Uh.....he is 1/4 black. Megan Markle's mother is black. Pretty much everyone knows this. You just have to stay away from ape/monkey jokes in this situation. Everyone in TV knows this too.
I seriously doubt "pretty much everyone knows" Markles family history...unless you watch E news or some crap like that. She was good in Suits though.

I don't know many men in general who care about ANY royal family news.
 

august-west

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But that's my point - what little outcry there was died completely down by the time they actually fired him. If firing him was in response to an outcry, it should've been way sooner when people cared.

You never know what was happening behind the scenes, though. My best guess is a small, but vocal, group of people went to sponsers and they in turn eventually put the heat on. Just a guess, though, as to why it took as long as it did. That or contract negotiations.
 

Glenn's Take

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May 20, 2012
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Just another example of why I don't talk to any non-white, non-heterosexual females at work. If I have to walk on eggshells with people when talking to them then I just don't talk to them.
 
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If you watch the video and don't come away thinking that Lee Cruse is either the dumbest person on earth or is completely tone deaf to the issue of race.

I'm not some PC police douche that we seem to see too often. But the guy made the joke and then double and tripled down on it as his co-host was basically telling him, "dude, shut up, you're digging yourself into a hole that will get your fired"

Cruse probably isn't "racist" but what he said can't be acceptable. His apology seemed sincere but I'm betting that this was just one of many things that they put in his file.
 
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BigBlueSean_rivals178247

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What ticks me off is mistakes people made 30 years ago or so and those comments come back to haunt you. I'm sure there are things I said back when I was young and dumb that would have gotten me in trouble had I ever become a public future. Having written that this wasn't 30 years ago. It was a week ago. I personally don't think it was meant as racist, I accepted his apology, move on. Society though is what it is and the parent company made the call to fire him. We don't know what else is in his personnel file. The company could have stood by him especially in this state which is a lot more tolerance of the fine line between PC crap and common decency. So my view is if the company decided to fire him that's their call. Time to move on. JMO


This was not due to "society". A network like WLEX doesn't get its profits and revenue from its programming. It gets the majority of its revenue from advertisements. Too much outrage there. Same thing with Fox News etc. Once advertisers threaten to pull then it forces WLEX's hand.
 
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BigBlueSean_rivals178247

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These knee jerk reactions are becoming standard business practice. The good should be considered as well as the bad. They have a right to handle this but I respectfully disagree and as a advertiser with them I will take this into consideration as we move forward with wlex.

You do that, far more advertisers were threatening to do the opposite.
 

Zjstep01

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Cruse acknowledged in his apology that he knew the kid was part black... watch the apology and you'll understand what happened and why he screwed up so bad.
Im not arguing that he knew. I’m saying a lot of people don’t know that because you said pretty much everyone knows that. Hate to break it to you but there are a lot of people who couldn’t care less about the royal family and their kids.
 

anon_leeghhkp6kfu6

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If you watch the video and don't come away thinking that Lee Cruse is either the dumbest person on earth or is completely tone deaf to the issue of race.

I'm not some PC police douche that we seem to see too often. But the guy made the joke and then double and tripled down on it as his co-host was basically telling him, "dude, shut up, you're digging yourself into a hole that will get your fired"

Cruse probably isn't "racist" but what he said can't be acceptable. His apology seemed sincere but I'm betting that this was just one of many things that they put in his file.

I guarantee you’ve made an absolute *** out of yourself at your job before. You do it here pretty regularly. Hopefully you were allowed to make amends and didn’t lose your job because of it.
 

KapitalCat

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May 21, 2002
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This was not due to "society". A network like WLEX doesn't get its profits and revenue from its programming. It gets the majority of its revenue from advertisements. Too much outrage there. Same thing with Fox News etc. Once advertisers threaten to pull then it forces WLEX's hand.

I think that’s what I said. Society is what it is but end the end it’s the companies call.
 

*Bleedingblue*

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Mar 5, 2009
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Uh.....he is 1/4 black. Megan Markle's mother is black. Pretty much everyone knows this. You just have to stay away from ape/monkey jokes in this situation. Everyone in TV knows this too.


Is her mom 100% black or is she mixed with other ethnicities like every other person in America is.


Bill Mayer said Trump looked like an Ape, guess that's ok?
Jim Carry the same thing


I can come up with tons of ape comparisons to other races and it is tolerated.
 

BigBlueSean_rivals178247

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Here is the bottom line for this:

1) Lee went on unprepared for the segment. He had never seen the picture. This doesn't excuse the take.

2) He was re-directed not once, not twice, not three times, but four times by his co-host and warned for his take. Lee has a schtick on "Hey Kentucky" and this particular show of being "the anti-political correctness guy". It bit him in the *** this time. It is one thing if you want to say he it was funny. It is another to call a DJ that posted a picture depicting a person of any African American decent as a monkey your "favorite DJ".

3) I have met Lee at least 5 times, maybe more to help promote different things. He is an ***. He is extremely arrogant and is always "the smartest guy in the room". Part of that led to his demise. Guarantee he thought because he was a staple of 25 years on WLEX programming there was no way anything would ever happen to him.

4) The argument of "the baby is only a quarter African-American is ****** and disingenuous. My wife is technically the same amount black. Her dad is bi-racial and her mom is white. Unless you know her personally, when you look at her, you would think she is black. There is a history that just a passing knowledge makes one aware of in regards to this. Throughout the entirety of history white, European cultures have made reference to African Americans as monkeys in effort to portray them as sub-human. Under no circumstance is it ok to participate in that rhetoric, or condone it when done by someone else.

5) Any framing of the action of the British DJ as "soft" or politically correct as well as Lee Cruise's comments is dumb as well. You can be mad at the action taken. But the comment was in poor taste. If society is too politically correct, or soft, because we will not allow someone in 2019 to make any sort of reference to a black person as a monkey, then so be it. Some people on here are utter **** people if you think that bs is ok. Does it make Lee a racist? No. But you don't have to be racist to say something racially ignorant or insensitive.

6) His apology was ****. First he blamed it on scripting. Go back and watch. It was a genuine, unscripted banter back and forth. Not the fault of a script writer. Then the apology was laughable, he ranted and made it literally all about him. He called two of the oldest, most common old black church-goer people and because they forgave him and because the black co-host forgave him EVERYONE should move on? It was about a disingenuous and self serving as could possibly be. Then the network did nothing, were forced into a suspension and an eventually firing. I do not think he should have been fired. But I am not in charge of WLEX.
 

anon_leeghhkp6kfu6

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Here is the bottom line for this:

1) Lee went on unprepared for the segment. He had never seen the picture. This doesn't excuse the take.

2) He was re-directed not once, not twice, not three times, but four times by his co-host and warned for his take. Lee has a schtick on "Hey Kentucky" and this particular show of being "the anti-political correctness guy". It bit him in the *** this time. It is one thing if you want to say he it was funny. It is another to call a DJ that posted a picture depicting a person of any African American decent as a monkey your "favorite DJ".

3) I have met Lee at least 5 times, maybe more to help promote different things. He is an ***. He is extremely arrogant and is always "the smartest guy in the room". Part of that led to his demise. Guarantee he thought because he was a staple of 25 years on WLEX programming there was no way anything would ever happen to him.

4) The argument of "the baby is only a quarter African-American is ****** and disingenuous. My wife is technically the same amount black. Her dad is bi-racial and her mom is white. Unless you know her personally, when you look at her, you would think she is black. There is a history that just a passing knowledge makes one aware of in regards to this. Throughout the entirety of history white, European cultures have made reference to African Americans as monkeys in effort to portray them as sub-human. Under no circumstance is it ok to participate in that rhetoric, or condone it when done by someone else.

5) Any framing of the action of the British DJ as "soft" or politically correct as well as Lee Cruise's comments is dumb as well. You can be mad at the action taken. But the comment was in poor taste. If society is too politically correct, or soft, because we will not allow someone in 2019 to make any sort of reference to a black person as a monkey, then so be it. Some people on here are utter **** people if you think that bs is ok. Does it make Lee a racist? No. But you don't have to be racist to say something racially ignorant or insensitive.

6) His apology was ****. First he blamed it on scripting. Go back and watch. It was a genuine, unscripted banter back and forth. Not the fault of a script writer. Then the apology was laughable, he ranted and made it literally all about him. He called two of the oldest, most common old black church-goer people and because they forgave him and because the black co-host forgave him EVERYONE should move on? It was about a disingenuous and self serving as could possibly be. Then the network did nothing, were forced into a suspension and an eventually firing. I do not think he should have been fired. But I am not in charge of WLEX.

As usual, you somehow manage to get almost everything about this wrong.
 

BigBlueSean_rivals178247

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Is her mom 100% black or is she mixed with other ethnicities like every other person in America is.


Bill Mayer said Trump looked like an Ape, guess that's ok?
Jim Carry the same thing


I can come up with tons of ape comparisons to other races and it is tolerated.

Because none have the history that the usage SPECIFICALLY for African Americans has. Again, there is a thorough history of this bore out in our world history in which white men depicted black people as monkeys to facilitate a narrative that black people were "subhuman". Its a false equivalency. And you are a ****** person for even insinuating it isn't an issue. It isn't about intent. Its about how it was perceived. Someone can say a racist trope or joke in front of my wife and not mean it with any sort of denigration. But if my wife perceives it as such, that is what matters. No white person has any right to tell a black person that their feelings are invalidated. I Guarantee any person, who has any noticeable African-American heritage be it 10%, 25%, 75% or whatever would never be "ok" being referred to as a monkey. If you disagree, I would love to see you approach ANY person of color and call them a monkey in public and see what happens. Record that ****. Then compare it to a white person reacting to it.

It simply is not comparable.
 
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BillyJoeCatFan

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Dec 29, 2002
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It's not just that. Trying to be respectful and sensitive to others isn't a bad thing and Lee needed to be better.

The bigger issue is that forgiveness has been forgotten. Mistakes can't be made anymore and it's one strike and you're out. That isn't right. It's not Christian. It's not sustainable.



It is just that. You cannot be willing to forgive anything that happens. Well I guess you can forgive, but there are consequences and repercussions, for EVERYTHING you say or do anymore.

And don't bring Christianity into this because there are things that you need to oppose if you truly are a Christian.
 

BigBlueSean_rivals178247

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It is just that. You cannot be willing to forgive anything that happens. Well I guess you can forgive, but there are consequences and repercussions, for EVERYTHING you say or do anymore.

And don't bring Christianity into this because there are things that you need to oppose if you truly are a Christian.

Exactly, You are free to say literally whatever you want under free speech. You can apologize and people can forgive or not forgive. But in a private work setting, or even any work setting, that does not equate to being free from repercussions of your words.
 
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Bacon1450

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It is just that. You cannot be willing to forgive anything that happens. Well I guess you can forgive, but there are consequences and repercussions, for EVERYTHING you say or do anymore.

And don't bring Christianity into this because there are things that you need to oppose if you truly are a Christian.
I did bring Christianity and which things do I need to oppose that are beyond forgiveness?

I'm not going to get into a back-and-forth with you. My opinion is our country needs more forgiveness and allowing of second chances. I don't think that's a hot take but if you disagree, well, I forgive you.
 

Bacon1450

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Exactly, You are free to say literally whatever you want under free speech. You can apologize and people can forgive or not forgive. But in a private work setting, or even any work setting, that does not equate to being free from repercussions of your words.
Sure there can be repercussions along with forgiveness, and I thought a week suspension or even longer would have sufficed here. Cruise has a large body of work and I believe this is the first incident. I don't know if termination was appropriate but my point is one issue terminations in general.
 

anon_leeghhkp6kfu6

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Exactly, You are free to say literally whatever you want under free speech. You can apologize and people can forgive or not forgive. But in a private work setting, or even any work setting, that does not equate to being free from repercussions of your words.

No one is saying he shouldn’t be subject to repercussions. People are saying the repercussions in this instance may have gone too far. This is not hard to understand.
 

BigBlueSean_rivals178247

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Sure there can be repercussions along with forgiveness, and I thought a week suspension or even longer would have sufficed here. Cruise has a large body of work and I believe this is the first incident. I don't know if termination was appropriate but my point is one issue terminations in general.

I don't disagree, but when your words/actions go to having heavy repercussions for advertisers and effecting revenue flow....well... it is what it is...
 
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BigBlueSean_rivals178247

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I did bring Christianity and which things do I need to oppose that are beyond forgiveness?

I'm not going to get into a back-and-forth with you. My opinion is our country needs more forgiveness and allowing of second chances. I don't think that's a hot take but if you disagree, well, I forgive you.

Christianity preaches forgiveness, but it most always is coupled with being held accountable for ones actions and repentance.