Ezra Levant said what on Sun TV?
The Twittersphere is belatedly buzzing over a tirade from Sun News Network columnist Ezra Levant that concluded with a coarse Spanish insult aimed at Chiquita Brands International senior vice-president Manuel Rodriguez.
Winding up a 10-minute denunciation of the banana company’s decision to boycott oil from Alberta’s oilsands deposits, Levant signed off his Dec. 22 broadcast thus: “Hey . . . Manuel Rodriguez, chinga tu madre.”
The expression, used widely in Mexico though not elsewhere in the Spanish-speaking world, means, crudely, to have carnal relations with your mother.
Levant has a history of outspoken conservatism. For instance, the Occupy Toronto movement was, in his words, a “dirty, semen-stained, overflowing bathroom protest.”
In his latest outburst, the 39-yearold was fired up about what he called a duplicitous letter from Rodriguez, in which the executive denied that the company was actually boycotting products from Canadian oilsands.
Asked by the Star if he had any regrets about offering the Spanish insult, Levant responded: “I only regret that it did not get more coverage, which is why I am excited about your inquiry.
“I just hope Chiquita doesn’t send some FARC terrorists after me in return or try some banana republic-style coup to take over my TV show.”
Chiquita, the successor to the United Fruit Co., paid $25 million in fines five years ago for paying Colombian terrorist paramilitaries to provide protection for its plantations.
A spokesperson for the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council said only one official complaint has been received so far about the Dec. 22 broadcast.