Laura Schlessinger, or Dr. Laura, was Americas most successful female radio host, with a weekday audience of 10 million, spread across 200 radio stations, plans to quit the airwaves amid controversy over her repeated use of the N-word during an episode of her three-hour-long program.Trouble began last Tuesday, when an African-American woman, who was married to a white man, called Schlessingers studio asking for advice on dealing with friends of her husband who have fallen into the habit of making racist comments to her.Dr. Laura, who counts mixed-race marriages as one of the many things she generally disapproves of, told the woman she was being "hypersensitive" and that she shouldn't automatically take offence at racial taunts, even if they contained the word "n-----"."Black guys use it all the time," she declared."Turn on HBO, listen to a black comic and all you hear is 'n-----, n-----, n-----.' I don't get it. If anybody without enough melanin says it it's a horrible thing, but when black people say it, it's affectionate. It's very confusing."The caller became audibly upset, saying that she had been "caught back" by Schlessinger's use of "the n-word, to which the host duly replied: "I'll say it again: n-----, n----- n-----. If you're that hypersensitive about color, and don't have a sense of humor, then don't marry out of your race."She swiftly apologized, interrupting her show the next day to say that she "did the wrong thing".But critics, noting that Schlessinger had used the apparently verboten word a total of 11 times in the short conversation, were unimpressed and called for advertisers to boycott her show.
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