American actor Halle Berry spoke out after a Buffalo, New York, radio host compared Black female celebrities' varying skin tones to toast.
According to E! News, 'Morning Bull' host Rob Lederman was terminated from the '97 Rock' show this week after he talked about whether or not he finds certain Black women "attractive" during a segment.
"See we have ours- and I may get into trouble for this - I have them to the attractiveness of women that I find to be attractive," he said on air on Wednesday.
"So I won't ever go to a Serena Williams level... But I'm very comfortable at a Halle Berry level. I need a little bit of mulatto still actually coming through, it can't be."
A co-host asked, "Is Gayle King, that's not your realm?" To which Lederman reacted, "No, Gayle King isn't even on my toaster oven level."
On Friday, Berry slammed the remarks as 'disgusting'.
The Oscar winner actor wrote on Twitter, "It's ridiculous this type of nonsense is still being broadcasted across airwaves. ALL Black women are beautiful and worthy, Rob Lederman. GTFOH."
Lederman issued an apology about four hours later. "I want to sincerely apologize for hurting people with my foolish and ignorant comments yesterday," he wrote in a statement posted to his new Twitter account.
"After listening to what I said, and how it must have sounded to others, I was horrified. I 100% understand why people are justifiably angry. I made a mistake and it's hard to look myself in the mirror, but I want to acknowledge it. I apologise from the deepest depths of who I am," he added.
He said he reached out to the local NAACP group, among other community leaders, to seek guidance and teaching as he wants to "increase my sensitivity and understanding."
The radio personality added, "If it's not too much trouble, realize my remarks were ignorant, yet not intended to be harmful... This is a great opportunity to get communication started so that this mistake can heal - and not divide."
As revealed by E! News, WKBW Buffalo (channel) detailed that he was fired on Wednesday, while his co-has Chris Klein and Rich 'Bull' Gaenzler were suspended.
Berry tweeted the brief snippet from the show after it was shared on Twitter by ESPN reporter Marcel Louis-Jacques. Fans reacted to her, with one saying, "I hate everything about this. Why would they feel so comfortable about talking about the type of black women they like. When people don't get colourism they should listen to this."
Another wrote, "Can they really be this ignorant and dumb or are they just flat out racist. Either way is awful."
( With inputs from ANI )
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