Halle Berry is speaking out after a Buffalo, New York, radio host compared Black female celebrities' varying skin tones to toast.
Morning Bull host Rob Lederman was fired from the 97 Rock show this week, after he discussed whether or not he finds certain Black women "attractive" during a segment.
"See we have ours—and I may get into trouble for this—I have them to the attractiveness of women that I find to be attractive," he said on air on Wednesday, March 24. "So I will never go to a Serena Williams level… But I'm very comfortable at a Halle Berry level. I need a little bit of mulatto still coming through, it can't be..."
A co-hosted asked, "Is Gayle King, that's not your realm?" To which Lederman responded, "No, Gayle King is not even on my toaster level."
On Friday, March 26, Berry slammed the comments as "Disgusting." The Oscar winner wrote on Twitter, "It's ridiculous this type of nonsense is still being broadcasted across airwaves. ALL Black women are beautiful and worthy, Rob Lederman. GTFOH."
Lederman issued an apology about four hours later. "I want to sincerely apologize for hurting people with my foolish and ignorant comments yesterday," he wrote in a statement posted to his new Twitter account. "After listening to what I said, and how it must have sounded to others, I was horrified. I 100% understand why people are justifiably angry. I made a mistake and it's hard to look myself in the mirror, but I want to acknowledge it. I apologize from the deepest depths of who I am."
He said he reached out to the local NAACP group, among other community leaders, to seek guidance and teaching as he wants to "increase my sensitivity and understanding."
The radio host added, "Please know my comments were ignorant, but not meant to be hurtful... This is a great opportunity to get communication started so that this mistake can heal—and not divide."
WKBW Buffalo reported that he was fired on Wednesday, while his co-hosts Chris Klein and Rich "Bull" Gaenzler were suspended.
Berry tweeted the audio clip from the show after it was shared on Twitter by ESPN reporter Marcel Louis-Jacques. Fans responded to her, with one saying, "I hate everything about this. Why would they feel so comfortable about talking about the type a black women they like. When people don't get colorism they should listen to this."
Another wrote, "Can they really be this ignorant and dumb or are they just flat out racist. Either way is awful."
See the conversation here.