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Who is Rob Lederman? Radio host fired for rating Black women celebs based on burnt toast during live show

Lederman said that he will 'never go to a Serena Williams level' but that he is 'very comfortable with a Halle Berry level' and Gayle King is 'not even on my toaster level'

Host of radio show 'Morning Bull' on 97 Rock, Rob Lederman, was fired following racist comments made on-air on the morning of Wednesday, March 24. Lederman's co-hosts Rich Gaenzler and Chris Klein have been suspended by Cumulus media, which operates the radio station. Gaenzler was also fired from his role as the in-arena host for the Buffalo Sabres and Buffalo Bandits lacrosse team, according to reports.

During the show, Lederman compared his preferred toast to the skin tones of Black female celebrities including Serena Williams, Halle Berry, and Gayle King. In a 45-second audio clip that has been circulating on social media, Gaenzler talks about how high he likes his toaster setting. Lederman then follows up by saying, "I may get into trouble for this."

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Lederman then says, "I have them [toaster settings] to the attractiveness of women that I find to be attractive." He then says that he will "never go to a Serena Williams level," but that he is "very comfortable with a Halle Berry level." He then says, "a little bit of mulatto still coming through," before saying that Gayle King "is not even on my toaster level."

Lederman's comments were met with criticism, with one user tweeting, "Not sure what’s worse...the lack of awareness and casual use of a derogatory racial categorization,'mulatto'. Or the background laughter and acceptance when he made a correlation between black skin and burnt toast. Someone educate him/them, and remove them from the studio."

One user tweeted, "I feel like anytime someone says 'I might get in trouble for this' and then goes ahead and says the thing, 100% knows what they are saying is wrong and shouldn’t be said. Yet, they said it anyways. smh..."

Another wrote, "This man went out his way to talk about black women. They were talkin about toast... and now he’s voluntarily saying he thinks darker skinned black women aren’t attractive. Weirdo. This type of talk is so frequent, ppl don’t realize how detrimental it is."

It was later announced that Lederman had been fired by Cumulus Media which also said it "suspended the remainder of the show’s on-air talent. We apologize, and deeply regret the incident," according to a statement released by the company.

The statement also noted, "Cumulus Media operates from a clearly-defined set of programming principles and there is no question that Rob Lederman’s comments made on The Morning Bull Show are in direct violation of those principles."

Reports also suggested that Rich Gaenzler was fired by Pegula Sports which stated that the comments made on the show were "unacceptable, inappropriate, and there is no place for them in our community. The Sabres and Bandits, therefore, have made the decision to terminate him from his duties as our in-arena host."

In a statement, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said, "The racist commentary made on The Morning Bull show on 97 Rock is outrageous and intolerable. There is no place in our society for these statements or beliefs. I strongly condemn what these individuals said on the radio this morning."