While discussing the controversy surrounding Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Sen. Barack Obama's former pastor, on the April 30 edition of his nationally syndicated Fox News radio show, host John Gibson aired an audio clip of MSNBC commentator Rachel Maddow in which she asked, “What else has to happen in the news to push Jeremiah Wright out of the headlines?” Following her comments, Gibson aired an unidentified audio clip of a man saying, " Ooh, lesbians. Yummy." Later in the segment, Gibson's producer, known on-air as “Angry Rich” said, “That Maddow's become bathtub boy's pit bull, hasn't she?” -- an apparent reference to MSNBC's Countdown host, Keith Olbermann. Gibson replied, “Ooohhh. ... Well, I don't know, you know? She may have one of those -- I shouldn't say anything more, should I?” “Angry Rich” said, “No,” and Gibson said, apparently referring to his associate producer, “Christine's shaking her head back and forth,” and went on to air an audio clip in which an unidentified woman said, “I would like to thank my wife.” Gibson later said, “Did I tell you about the people ... on the island of Lesbos?”

Prior to airing the clip of Maddow's comments, Gibson said, “Rachel Maddow -- can they get any farther to the left over there at MSNBC ... than Rachel Maddow?” “Angry Rich” replied, “If they exhumed Che Guevara from his grave and put him on.” Gibson replied, “Chairman Mao, maybe? He's dead, too.”

Following controversial remarks he made about actor Heath Ledger's death on the January 22 and 23 editions of his radio show, Gibson apologized on the January 24 editions of his since-canceled Fox News television show, The Big Story, and his radio show, in which he said:

GIBSON: I have received emails regarding some comments I made on this radio show the other night after the shocking death of Heath Ledger. I'm sorry that some gay groups and others took my comments as anti-gay and insensitive. I'm aware that Ledger has a family and many fans who were grief-stricken by his sudden death.

From the April 30 edition of Fox News Radio's The John Gibson Show:

GIBSON: What if the pastor [Wright] comes up with a picture of the candidate [Obama] sitting there listening as -- nodding and applauding as the pastor yells “God damn America, the U.S. of KK of A. Ask not what you can do for your country.”

Rachel Maddow -- can they get any farther to the left over there at MSNBC --

ANGRY RICH: Not possible.

GIBSON: -- than Rachel Maddow?

ANGRY RICH: If they exhumed Che Guevara from his grave and put him on.

GIBSON: Chairman Mao, maybe?

ANGRY RICH: Perhaps.

GIBSON: He's dead, too.

[begin audio clip]

MADDOW: I thought he seemed angry. But, I mean, as I said before, so far, Barack Obama has said -- and I've made notes of it as he has done it: He vehemently disagrees with him, he strongly condemns him, he categorically denounces him, he rejected him outright. Today, we got that he's appalled by him, that he's outraged by him.

I find it incredible that we're all sitting here going, “Why won't the Jeremiah Wright controversy go away?” Well, you know what? Today John McCain unveiled his health care plan. We got three different statements, three different policies from the candidates on gas prices. We got the president of the United States making a huge economic speech and speaking to reporters for 40 minutes. We've got four Marines, or four U.S. soldiers who were announced to have been killed in Iraq yesterday. What else has to happen in the news to push --

JOE SCARBOROUGH (MSNBC host): But Rachel --

[crosstalk]

MADDOW: -- Jeremiah Wright out of the headlines, before we do it for six straight headlines --

SCARBOROUGH: Rachel --

MADDOW: -- on every politics show in the country?

SCARBOROUGH: When you have Jeremiah Wright --

MADDOW: This is all we're capable of talking about anymore.

SCARBOROUGH: -- going -- when you have --

[end audio clip]

GIBSON: That is --

AUDIO CLIP: Ooh, lesbians. Yummy.

GIBSON: Mmm. Joe Scarborough was trying to get in there. Now, this is in the David Gregory show yesterday at 6 o'clock on MSNBC.

ANGRY RICH: He's got a show?

GIBSON: Well, you could call it that.

ANGRY RICH: OK.

GIBSON: But it was David Shuster filling in. Now, Shuster --

ANGRY RICH: Robin.

GIBSON: -- is -- yeah. He's -- I know he's Robin to bathman. But Shuster isn't used to guests from his own network fighting. He doesn't quite know how to handle it.

[begin audio clip]

SCARBOROUGH: When you have Jeremiah Wright going in front of the National Press Club, saying -- again, Barack Obama's spiritual mentor, someone that Barack Obama didn't distance himself from until today -- saying that [Nation of Islam leader] Louis Farrakhan was one of the great people of the 20th and 21st century. The same Louis Farrakhan that said Hitler was a great man and that Judaism was a gutter religion. It required the Obama campaign to do something. There is a big difference between Barack Obama saying --

MADDOW: It didn't require that. [laughs]

SCARBOROUGH: -- in Philadelphia -- I'm sorry, you might find that funny --

MADDOW: No --

SCARBOROUGH: -- I can guarantee there are millions of people in America who don't.

[end audio clip]

GIBSON: Joe's right about that. Joe's right about that. And Rachel Maddow is, of course, as usual, wrong.

[begin audio clip]

MADDOW: I don't find you tying Barack Obama to Hitler funny. I find it funny for you to say that what Jeremiah Wright is doing --

SCARBOROUGH: Did I do that?

[end audio clip]

GIBSON: No, you didn't do that.

[begin audio clip]

MADDOW: -- requires a response from Barack Obama.

SCARBOROUGH: Well, it does.

MADDOW: What requires a response is the blanket media coverage of everything Jeremiah Wright does that will not quit.

SCARBOROUGH: OK, Rachel, if I can talk for a second here.

MADDOW: Please do.

SCARBOROUGH: In Philadelphia, Barack Obama said this, quote: “I can no more disown him” -- Jeremiah Wright -- “than I can disown the black community or my white grandmother.” That's not him separating him. Today, he said that he [Wright] was “divisive and destructive. He was appalling. He gave comfort to those who prey on hate. He is not the man I met 20 years ago.” He had to do that.

SHUSTER: Point made, point made.

[crosstalk]

[end audio clip]

GIBSON: Shuster, there -- point made, point made! Let's move on here.

AUDIO CLIP: Holy hole in a doughnut.

ANGRY RICH: That Maddow's become bathtub boy's pit bull, hasn't she?

GIBSON: Ooohhh.

ANGRY RICH: She acts like she owns the place now.

GIBSON: Well, I don't know, you know? She may have one of those -- I shouldn't say anything more, should I?

ANGRY RICH: No.

GIBSON: Christine's shaking her head back and forth.

AUDIO CLIP: I would like to thank my wife.

ANGRY RICH: Immaterial.

GIBSON: It is?

ANGRY RICH: Yeah.

GIBSON: Did I tell you about the people --

ANGRY RICH: Oh, God.

GIBSON: -- on the island of Lesbos? Nevermind. So bathman --

ANGRY RICH: Heading down this road.

GIBSON: -- bathman --

ANGRY RICH: Right.

GIBSON: It's an excellent news story today. It was on the AP, I saw.

AUDIO CLIP: Annie Leibovitz. I had two photo shoots with her. You got to do what she says.

GIBSON: Annie Leibovitz. Bathman also got into this today -- bathtub boy. Or was it yesterday with --

ANGRY RICH: Last night.

GIBSON: Richard Wolffe, the Brit who covers American politics for Newsweek -- how does that work?

[begin audio clip]

OLBERMANN: Certainly this is the second time Senator Obama has tried to put the Reverend Wright controversies behind him by replacing some of the sound bites from the pastor with sound bites of his own. It worked to some degree last month, some would argue it worked brilliantly. Is it likely to work to any degree again?

RICHARD WOLFFE (Newsweek reporter): Well, I think he went a long way beyond the sort of strategy before about replacing his words -- replacing Reverend Wright's words with his words. In a sense, voters, I think, were looking for two things out of this. First of all, how do candidates respond to these kind of crises? What we saw today was --

[end audio clip]

ANGRY RICH: Desperation.

[begin audio clip]

WOLFFE: -- Obama moving finally in a decisive way and showing some emotion. You know, in covering him for more than a year, I've never seen him express this kind of anger and dismay on anything. So, that's one important factor here. And the second piece of this is the big question about this: What was the relationship between these two men? Did Reverend Wright speak for Obama? Did Obama speak in the same way as Reverend Wright? What we saw today was such a complete denunciation, such a complete break that anyone who has the question in their head about how close these two people are should have it really answered. There is a vast chasm between them now.

[end audio clip]

GIBSON: A vast chasm.

AUDIO CLIP: Hello.

GIBSON: Anybody who thinks that -- who is confused about whether Reverend Wright really was the pastor of Barack Obama should have it answered. And if they don't have it answered, they're obviously a racist.

Greg Johnson is an intern with Media Matters for America.