February 10, 2012
Roland Martin Meets With GLAAD; Wife Makes Anti-Gay Tweet
Jason St. Amand READ TIME: 2 MIN.
CNN's Roland Martin made national headlines this week for tweeting an anti-gay and violent comment. After issuing an apology to the LGBT community and to Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), the network suspended the commentator but he still plans to meet with the organization in the "near future."
"I look forward to meeting with GLAAD in the near future and having a productive dialogue," Martin tweeted. GLAAD replied and wrote, "@rolandsmartin We look forward to a productive dialogue and to working together as well."
Despite Martin's efforts to repair the relationship between himself, the gay community and the organization, Martin's wife took to Twitter and slammed GLAAD and CNN. Jacquie Hood Martin apparently wasn't too happy when she found out that her husband had been suspended from CNN, America Blog Gay reported. Jacquie replied to someone named Sophia A. Nelson, who tweeted that GLAAD is a bully and that "Roland is being used as the whipping boy." Jacquie wrote, "@SophiaRedefined @cnn @glaad uses our history to gain their equality & then stabs the point man in the back. Don't ask us for nothing else!"
America Blog Gay also points out that Jacquie's Twitter has been deleted but many are claiming that her account was hacked.
GLAAD has not responded to Jacquie's tweets.
When GLAAD issued a statement against Martin for his homophobic tweet, the organization also mentioned that Jacquie has "counseled many men and women to walk away from the gay lifestyle," EDGE reported.
Martin originally tweeted about a Super Bowl that featured David Beckham modeling his H&M underwear line. "If a dude at your Super Bowl party is hyped about David Beckham's H&M underwear ad, smack the ish out of him!" he wrote. GLAAD then condemned the on-air sportscaster and asked CNN to fire him.