Last night on Larry King Live, Dr. Laura admitted she’ll quit her radio show. But she isn’t ending her days as an entertainment personality, she told King. “I want to be able to say what’s on my mind and in my heart and what I think is helpful and useful without somebody getting angry – some special interest group deciding this is a time to silence a voice of dissent and attack affiliates and sponsors,” she said, according to the Globe & Mail.
She added that she wants to regain her First Amendment rights, which cover freedom of speech.
Dr. Laura landed herself in a heated controversy when she took a caller question last week relating to race relations. Schlessinger said the caller, who said she was black and married to a white man, was too touchy for critiquing that her husband’s friends made racist comments about her in their home. She repeatedly said the N-word to make her point about black comedians using that word in their stand-up acts.
She later apologizes on air and on her website.
The “Dr. Laura Program” syndicated radio show attracts more than 9 million listeners in 40 countries. It began as a personal advice show but also features short monologues on social and political topics.
According to ABC News, this isn’t the first time Dr Laura has garnered negative publicity. In 2000, “her views on homosexuality, which she termed a ‘biological error’, and comparison of gay parenting to pedophilia led to the cancellation of a planned TV talk show.
