Martin Bashir Sexist Comments Offend Asian Women

Martin Bashir (45), pictured above, was invited to speak at the Asian American Journalists’ Association, because he is of Pakistani decent. Bashir was born in London.

One of Bashir’s colleagues at ABC, Emmy Award-winning correspondent Juju Chang (pictured below), who had the misfortune of being present at the AAJA gala scholarship and awards banquet in Chicago last week when Bashir made his speech.

When Bashir spoke he said:

"[a speech] is like a dress on a beautiful woman. It has to be long enough to cover the important parts and short enough to keep you interested. My colleague Juju Chang has achieved this on both points."

"I’ve never been around so many Asian babes in my life. In fact, I’m mightily relieved that that the podium covers me from the waist downwards. I’ve been having trouble all evening…"

Miss Chang responded:

"See what I have to put up with?" She later described the comments as a "ridiculous joke" and added: "He has since apologised to me for his boorishness."

Channel spokesman Jerry Scheider said:

"This kind of remark has no place in any setting and Martin knows that and is truly sorry for his serious error in judgment."

Bashir has now also written to the journalists’ association apologising for the "tasteless remarks" he made at the event and describing his behaviour as a "moment of stupidity."

Bashir was recently promoted to take over Nightline with a big fat money deal. In June, Bashir revealed he had been diagnosed with a brain tumour but vowed to "get on with his life."

It is understood that he does not need surgery or treatment at this stage because the tumour is not affecting his well-being, but the situation will need to be monitored.

Maybe Bashir’s benign brain tumor is affecting his sense of decency.