Glenn Beck's Ratings Up Amid Obama 'Racist' Controversy

Glenn Beck may be the subject of an advertiser boycott, but as long as his ratings remain high, he's probably not going anywhere soon. As Mediabistro's TV Newser reported yesterday, Beck's 5 PM Fox News show had record high ratings last week with nearly 2.5 million total viewers tuning in to see his highly theatrical take on current events.

Major advertisers like Walmart, Best Buy, and GMAC have pulled out of Beck's show after the Web site Color of Change drew attention to the pundit's race-baiting statement that President Obama "has a deep-seated hatred for white people." Sites like Fox News Boycott and Jack & Jill Politics have all gotten in on the campaign.

Fox News brass issued an almost immediate statement, distancing itself from Beck's comments which they deemed "a personal opinion which represented his own views, not those of the Fox News Channel." It's probably worth noting Beck has his supporters as well in the form of Support Glenn Beck, which was created last week to promote a petition endorsing Beck's Values and Principles, which include "America is Good."

Some commentators like Business Insider's Henry Blodget have called for the network to fire the host, stating, "This is the sort of rhetoric and attitude you might expect at a bigoted religious revival or KKK meeting. It's not the rhetoric or attitude you expect from the host of a talk show broadcast by one of the world's largest media companies." In early August, the Washington Post's Reliable Sources columnist Howard Kurtz asked his CNN guests "Should there be a line you can't cross without getting fired?"

Beck himself would probably say "no." In an interview with GQ's Jason Horowitz earlier this summer, he was asked about "the line between manufactured conflict"—you know, what he does with his alternately blustery and teary segments—"and news."

"What do you mean, 'Where’s the line?'" Beck responded. "I’m not a journalist. If I wanted to be a journalist, I would be Charlie Rose and bore the snot out of people and have fourteen people watching me. I am a guy that firmly believes what I believe. I’ve done my homework. I am a student of history. Now, I can either present that to you in a Charlie Rose sort of way, or I can be entertaining."

So that explains calling the first African American president (who just so happens to have a white mother and white grandparents) a racist: It was meant to be entertaining. Well, Beck does call himself "a rodeo clown" every chance he gets.

As long as his ratings remain strong, he probably won't get gored.