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Former CNN anchor Rick Sanchez became the latest celebrity to engage in the Racist Celebrity Foot in Mouth Walk of Shame today as he issued a formal apology to Daily Show host Jon Stewart for calling him a bigot. Sanchez said in a statement, “I had a very good conversation with Jon Stewart, and I had the opportunity to apologize for my inartful comments from last week.”

Here is the former host of Rick’s List statement from TVnewser, “On October 4th, I had a very good conversation with Jon Stewart, and I had the opportunity to apologize for my inartful comments from last week. I sincerely extend this apology to anyone else whom I may have offended.”

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Sanchez also thanked Stewart for pointing out on his Monday show that Sanchez had spoken out previously against bigotry, “As Jon was kind enough to note in his show Monday night, I am very much opposed to hate and intolerance, in any form, and I have frequently spoken out against prejudice. Despite what my tired and mangled words may have implied, they were never intended to suggest any sort of narrow-mindedness and should never have been made.”

He followed it up by massaging his dismissal from CNN, and trying to repair some bridges, “In the aftermath of these comments, CNN and I have decided to part ways. However, I want to go on record to say that I have nothing but the highest regard for CNN and for my six wonderful years with them. I appreciate every opportunity that they have given me, and it has been a wonderful experience working for them. I have tremendous respect for everyone there, and I know that they feel the same about me. There are no hard feelings – just excitement about a new future of opportunities.”

He concluded his apology the modern way, by plugging his book that no one will read now that he is not on television, “I look forward to my next step with great anticipation. In the meantime, I will continue to promote my book, Conventional Idiocy, in the hopes of broadening the discussion to get a better understanding between all Americans, regardless of race, creed or religion.”

This certainly explains why Jon Stewart went out of his way Monday night to express his opinion that Sanchez is not a bigot. I thought yeah, right, when I read Sanchez’s excuse that his words were inartful and mangled, then I went back and looked at the text via The Huffington Post, “Very powerless people… [snickers] He’s such a minority, I mean, you know [sarcastically]… Please, what are you kidding? … I’m telling you that everybody who runs CNN is a lot like Stewart, and a lot of people who run all the other networks are a lot like Stewart, and to imply that somehow they — the people in this country who are Jewish — are an oppressed minority? Yeah. [sarcastically].”

He certainly implied that Jews run the media, when he said that people a lot like Stewart run the media, or he could have been referring to the bigoted ways of the people who run the media. Either way, this was not a good approach to talking about his boss. It is as he found out a highly effective strategy for getting you ass canned by sundown. It can be debated until the end of time whether Rick Sanchez is a goofball or a bigot, but at least he did the mature thing by calling Jon Stewart and talking to him.

Unlike some other media personalities who shall remain nameless. Hint: She quit her job in Alaska, and really likes Twitter and Facebook. Sanchez didn’t try to play the victim. He took responsibility. He owned up to his remarks, and is now looking to move on. I still have my doubts whether a national cable news network will hire him, but he will end up somewhere. Stewart handled this whole thing in a humorous but classy way, and now we can be back to the business of discussing parody rallies in Washington, D.C.