
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, March 5, 1990                   TAG: 9003052176
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A/2   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                 LENGTH: Medium

ROONEY BACK ON AIR, STILL GRUMPY

Andy Rooney returned after a three-week suspension to his end-of-the-show slot on "60 Minutes" to take up the "demeaning" job of defending himself against charges he is a "racist bigot."

At the same time, the 71-year-old humorist let it be known Sunday night he would not be silenced. "Do I have any opinions that might irritate some people? You're damn right I do. That's what I'm here for," he said.

Rooney was given a three-month suspension without pay from CBS News President David Burke on Feb. 8 after a gay magazine, The Advocate, quoted him as saying blacks had "watered down their genes" because the least intelligent had the most children. Burke later cut short the suspension.

Rooney, who has repeatedly denied making the remarks in the magazine interview, which was not tape-recorded, said on "60 Minutes" he spent a lot of his suspension worrying he'd be remembered as the bigot he isn't.

"I'd be known for the rest of my life as a racist bigot and as someone who had made life a little more difficult for homosexuals. I felt terrible and I've learned a lot," he said.

At the time of his suspension, Rooney was under fire for a letter in which he said he found gay sex "repugnant" and for a CBS special Dec. 26 in which he put "homosexual unions" on a list of things that cause "self-induced" death.

"What do I say to defend myself? Do I say, `I'm not a racist'? That sounds like saying, `I'm not a crook,' " he said in his return broadcast. "How do I apologize to homosexuals for hurting them with a remark I made that I didn't realize would hurt them?"

He said he found it "demeaning to have to sit here and defend myself" against allegations of racism. He cited as examples the night he threw out a guest for using the word "nigger" and his arrest while in the Army during World War II for insisting on sitting in the back of a bus with black soldiers.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People last week said it was satisfied that the racial remarks attributed to Rooney were distorted and didn't reflect his views. The group declined to comment on Sunday's broadcast.

Craig Davidson, executive director of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, applauded Rooney's comments.

by CNB