Comedy is not pretty, but comedian Artie Lange thinks ESPN’s Cari Champion is — and tweeting his jarring fantasies about her today has cost him a TV gig. Comedy Central tonight confirmed that Lange has been yanked from a scheduled appearance on @midnight in the wake of his wild Twitter spree. “Artie Lange will not appear on Thursday’s episode of @midnight,” the cable net said in a statement without elaborating. We’ll let the Howard Stern Show veteran’s first few decidedly NSFW tweets on the matter speak for themselves:

The chick on ESPNs First Take is so fuckin hot! — Artie Lange (@artiequitter) November 4, 2014

Trying to maintain erection and jerkoff to chick on First Take but they keep cutting back to Stephen A Smith and the white guy. Frustrating! — Artie Lange (@artiequitter) November 4, 2014

It eventually got worse:

I attempt to whip @CariChampion cuz she disrespected the Jefferson Plantation but she grabs whip & beats me I cum like a fat founding father — Artie Lange (@artiequitter) November 4, 2014

After having 8 illegitimate kids together @CariChampion & I marry at The Knights of Columbus in Linden New Jersey. Prob with that?! F- Off! — Artie Lange (@artiequitter) November 4, 2014

Amid the inevitable racist/sexist/misogynist backlash, Lange played the “It’s comedy, folks” card:

I then thought it would be funny to tweet JOKES about that observation. A decision which might be the end of modern comedy — Artie Lange (@artiequitter) November 5, 2014

“His comments were reprehensible and no one should be subjected to such hateful language,” ESPN said in a statement, per Sports Illustrated. “They objectify and demean one of our valued employees under the thin guise of ‘comedy’ and are offensive to all of us. We will not dignify them with any other comment.”

Lange tweeted an apology to Champion, who appears on ESPN2’s First Take with Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith, but refused to apologize to those he might have offended:

Tricky question. I would rather load trucks for a living then ever apologize to one of these awful PC groups ruining the country — Artie Lange (@artiequitter) November 5, 2014

Then we wrote that Comedy Central has cancelled his @midnight appearance. Lange later ranted about “these awful PC groups who are ruining the country” and said, “Comedy Central has always been good to me and I don’t blame them.”

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Let’s end with these from a couple of hours ago:

I've gotta take that seriously. So my apologies extend to bigger group of ppl. If that's true and it is cuz she's no liar I have to think — Artie Lange (@artiequitter) November 6, 2014