ABC’s "Boston Legal" Slams ABC Pundit Glenn Beck

Posted by Amanda Terkel, Think Progress at 12:00 PM on December 5, 2007.

This post, written by Amanda Terkel, originally appeared on Think Progress

Yesterday on ABC's sitcom Boston Legal, attorney Shirley Schmidt, played by Candice Bergen, was tasked with defending a "shock jock" who was fired for saying on air, "Old people should die." The comment was allegedly part of his political argument that the United States "could be heading for a day when the bulk of our federal budget goes to subsidizing retirees."

While the plot of the show is fictional, Bergen's character took a real-life approach in her arguments defending the fired radio host. She blasted the media for censoring political content while ignoring "racist or hateful remarks":

Glenn Beck. He's on CNN, the "most trusted name in news." He's referred to the Katrina survivors as a vulgarity I'm not allowed to repeat here. He also said he didn't think it possible to hate any victims faster than the 9/11 victims.

These so-called journalists are everywhere, and frankly, I wouldn't mind seeing them gone. But it's one thing to curtail racist or hateful remarks, it's quite another to censor political content.

Watch the video to your right.

Here's the Sept. 9 quote on The Glenn Beck Show that Bergen referenced:

But the second thought I had when I saw these people and they had to shut down the Astrodome and lock it down, I thought: I didn't think I could hate victims faster than the 9-11 victims. These guys -- you know it's really sad. We're not hearing anything about Mississippi. We're not hearing anything about Alabama. ... And that's all we're hearing about, are the people in New Orleans. Those are the only ones we're seeing on television are the scumbags.

Bergen identified that Beck has a show on CNN. But she should also have mentioned that he's a contributor to Boston Legal's network, ABC; Beck is a regular commentator on Good Morning America. When he was hired, GMA's senior executive producer called Beck a "leading cultural commentator with a distinct voice."

Too bad ABC executives don't take the advice of their own shows more seriously.

Tagged as: television, imus, right wing media, beck, abc, boston legal

Amanda Terkel is Deputy Research Director at the Center for American Progress and serves as Deputy Editor for The Progress Report and ThinkProgress.org at the Center for American Progress.