Conservative local radio host, blogger offends and issues half-hearted apology

photo by flickr user AleBonvini

"Hot Talk Morning Show" host Tara Servatius resigned as a blogger for the John Locke foundation, a NC-focused, right-wing think tank, after posting a homophobic and racist photo of President Obama.

If there's one thing you can count on from Myrtle Beach's "Hot Talk Morning Show" on WRNN, the station that locally broadcasts Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, is the conservative vitriol toward local and national politics that can be either maddening or entertaining, depending upon which side of the political spectrum you find yourself leaning toward.

"Hot Talk" host Tara Servatius recently blogged about Obama's opposition to a measure undertaken in North Carolina to strictly define marriage as a union between solely a man and a woman. In the blog post, Servatius posted photo-shopped an image of Obama in drag with heels and a bucket of fried chicken. While this image, which plays heavily upon hurtful homophobic and racist stereotypes, is par for the course for shows of this nature, it was enough to offend the John Locke Foundation, who issued a formal press release calling Servatius' posting "offensive and utterly inappropriate for our blog or anyone else's."

Although Servatius has officially resigned her post with the JLF, she will continue to  co-host the "Hot Talk Morning Show." In the wake of the incident, Servatius apologized but also defended her post in a half-hearted apology which she emailed to WPDE:

If it has offended anyone, I sincerely regret that. That was certainly not my intention. It was meant to illustrate Obama's southern political strategy, nothing more. An honest reading of the piece itself shows there is nothing offensive in it.

Although the image has since been removed from the blog, you can see it on the write-up posted on Crooks and Liars.  Also check out the Huffington Post coverage.

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