The outrage brigade was in full swing yesterday after it was reported that Rodner Figueroa, an Emmy-winning host at Univision, was fired for allegedly saying that First Lady Michelle Obama looked like a character from a “Planet of the Apes” movie:
Univision fires TV host after he said the First Lady looks like a Planet of the Apes cast member: http://t.co/vYiYxDe7dg
— Media Matters (@mmfa) March 12, 2015
Univision host fired over racist "Planet of the Apes" comment towards Michelle Obama http://t.co/kysiwg4Eip pic.twitter.com/wSmfb5aqZu
— HuffPost (@HuffPost) March 12, 2015
TV host fired for comparing Michelle Obama to a cast member of the Planet Of The Apes film http://t.co/GbBS9WWODW pic.twitter.com/o5K78VSPX8
— Sky News (@SkyNews) March 13, 2015
A Univision host was fired after he likened Michelle Obama to someone from the cast of "Planet Of The Apes" http://t.co/fjLd9cQ94o
— Talking Points Memo (@TPM) March 13, 2015
https://twitter.com/AlanColmes/status/576185999266467840
Except he might not have actually said this about First Lady Michelle Obama.
The comment in question came during a segment where the hosts were talking about a male make-up artist who “transformed” himself into a likeness of Michelle Obama. Here’s a photo of the fake Michelle Obama via TMZ:
Figueroa has since posted an open letter to Mrs. Obama apologizing and explaining that he was actually referring to the guy in makeup as one of the cast members on “Planet of the Apes” and not the first lady:
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I offer my sincere apology for an unfortunate comment I made about a make-up artist’s depiction of you on Univision’s show “El Gordo y La Flaca” yesterday. It was clearly in bad taste and misunderstood.
I would like to explain that my remark was not directed at you, but at the result of an artist’s depiction of you that I found wasn’t accurate. The entire video clip in context corroborates this.
True? He does say “…that Michelle Obama…” during the segment which sounds like he could be talking about the guy in makeup and not FLOTUS (emphasis ours):
FIGUEROA: They say he applies makeup everywhere. Now, look at the transformation into Michelle Obama. This is truly impressive. Look at this: You know that Michelle Obama looks like she’s part of the cast of the movie Planet of the Apes. This is a difficult transformation. It’s true.
But here’s the real kicker in all of this: Figueroa is gay, voted for Obama twice and is from what he calls a “multi-racial” family:
I come from a multi-racial Hispanic family, with relatives, like my own father, who are Afro-Latino. I am the first openly gay Hispanic TV host and I’ve been a minority activist throughout my career, championing a number of causes geared towards supporting minorities; people who, like me, have been the focus of discrimination. Moreover, I openly voted twice for your husband Barack Obama, because I esteem him as a great man who has done a great deal for minorities in this country.
Liberals have run out of targets on the right so now they’re destroying their own advocates because of jokes? Looks like it.
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