Roland Martin Suspended After Recent Twitter Remarks

Roland Martin‘s Super Bowl Sunday tweets have landed the political analyst in trouble with CNN.  The cable network announced Wednesday it is suspending Martin indefinitely after he posted Twitter remarks that were interpreted by some to reflect anti-gay sentiment.

“Roland Martin’s tweets were regrettable and

offensive,” CNN said in a statement. “Language that demeans is inconsistent with the values and culture of our organization, and is not tolerated. We have been giving careful consideration to this matter, and Roland will not be appearing on our air for the time being.”

Martin wrote, in response to David Beckham‘s H&M underwear ad:

If a dude at your Super Bowl party is hyped about David Beckham’s H&M underwear ad, smack the ish out of him! #superbowl

In an earlier message, the commentator reprimanded a player for wearing pink, tweeting:

Who the hell was that New England Patriot they just showed in a head to toe pink suit? Oh, he needs a visit from #teamwhipdatass

Various gay and lesbian organizations were angered by the tweets. Gay Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLADD) suggested the network fire Martin: “Advocates of gay bashing have no place at CNN.”

Martin’s Twitter followers didn’t take the commentary lightly, and Martin defended himself.  He responded by saying he was scoffing at the soccer player, not gay people.

While he didn’t respond to the “pink suit” remark, Martin said, “I was not referring to sexuality directly or indirectly regarding the David Beckham ad, and I’m sorry folks took it otherwise.”