Former shock jock Wendy Williams was stunned at the backlash to her statement on the NAACP and HBCUs. The talk show DIVA responded by apologizing to her audience, then she fired 3 Caucasian staff members who wrote her one-liners that day.
According to Page Six, Wendy’s longtime producer Jason Gabel got the ax and “at least two other senior staff members were let go.”
“The crew had a big party celebrating what they considered a season well done,” a source told Page Six, and “the next day [some of them] got calls saying they’d been let go.”
The source added that Wendy wants to “retool the show, adding more current- affairs coverage and pop culture.”
The controversy started when Wendy rightfully criticized biracial actor Jesse Williams‘s Kumbaya speech on the BET Hip Hop Awards last month.
“[His] speech was very poignant. On the other hand, I would be really offended if there was a school that was known as a historically white college,” said Wendy in her off-the-cuff manner. “We have historically black colleges. What if there was the National Organization for White People, only? There’s the NAACP…” added Wendy.
Wendy’s longtime friend, journalist and activist Roland Martin, reacted with rage and indignation, calling her comments “silly” and suggesting she “shut the hell up”.
“You do realize that the NAACP was founded by a mix of folks that were black and white. Do you realize that the first president of the NAACP was white?” he asked.
“I stand corrected,” Williams said, after inviting Martin to be a guest on her show.
Amid the backlash, one of her biggest sponsors, Chevrolet, was forced to pull a lucrative sponsorship deal. The loss of substantial revenue left Wendy in tears.
“I’ve never been scared to face being wrong … I want to apologize to everyone I might have offended regarding my remarks … I was wrong,” she said.
