Ex-CNN host Sanchez apologizes for ‘inartful comments’

Rick Sanchez says there are "no hard feelings" with CNN after the news anchor got fired last week for a radio tirade that included calling Jon Stewart a "bigot" and suggesting that Jews run the media and therefore don't face discrimination.

Sanchez, in his first public statement since the controversy erupted five days ago, said that he had spoken with Stewart and had apologized for his "inartful comments." Sanchez added that he would "sincerely extend this apology to anyone else whom I may have offended."

Stewart joked about Sanchez's outburst on Monday's "Daily Show," and played a clip his staff already had in the works that compares the former CNN host to Michael Scott, the un-self-aware boss played by Steve Carell on "The Office."

However, Stewart also said that Sanchez had a "good heart" and acknowledged that Sanchez had spoken out against bigotry on his own CNN show. Sanchez followed up on Stewart's praise by saying he's "very much opposed to hate and intolerance, in any form, and I have frequently spoken out against prejudice."

Suzanne Sanchez, the journalist's wife, wrote on Facebook that her husband was dealing with "exhaustion" after several months of 14-hour days. Sanchez, too, mentioned fatigue as a factor. "Despite what my tired and mangled words may have implied," he said, "they were never intended to suggest any sort of narrow-mindedness and should never have been made."

He continued: "In the aftermath of these comments, CNN and I have decided to part ways. However, I want to go on record to say that I have nothing but the highest regard for CNN and for my six wonderful years with them. I appreciate every opportunity that they have given me, and it has been a wonderful experience working for them. I have tremendous respect for everyone there, and I know that they feel the same about me. There are no hard feelings — just excitement about a new future of opportunities."

Sanchez said he's now going to continue promoting his first book, "Conventional Idiocy," which was published just last month.

Even as Sanchez comes forward with apologies, at least one pundit is calling for CNN to give him his job back, regardless of how repentant the former anchor may be. Slate writer (and self-described contrarian) Christopher Hitchens called for Sanchez's reinstatement; after all, Hitchens argued, Sanchez's offense added up to little more than "some rather heavily sarcastic remarks about the power of the American Jewish minority and the sharing of its liberal assumptions by many at the networks."