newsmakers

newsmakers

Pat Buchanan gets the ax from MSNBC

LOS ANGELES

Pat Buchanan has been dismissed by MSNBC, the left-leaning news network, four months after the channel suspended him.

In an angry post on his blog, conservative commentator Buchanan took his critics to task, writing, “After 10 enjoyable years, I am departing, after an incessant clamor from the left that to permit me continued access to the microphones of MSNBC would be an outrage against decency, and dangerous.”

Buchanan says the calls for his firing began with the publication in October of his book “Suicide of a Superpower: Will America Survive to 2025?” about America’s decline, which critics have called racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic.

Buchanan, a former White House aide to Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan and a former Republican presidential candidate, had been with MSNBC as a political analyst since 2002.

R&B singer Thicke faces drug charge

NEW YORK

Police say R&B singer-songwriter Robin Thicke has been arrested on a minor drug charge in New York City.

The 34-year-old is the son of Alan Thicke, who played patriarch Jason Seaver on the long- running ABC sitcom “Growing Pains.” He was arrested early Friday afternoon in Manhattan near Madison Square Park. Police say he was pulled over, and they saw a marijuana cigarette inside his black SUV. He was given a desk-appearance ticket and released.

His publicist had no comment.

Thicke has written and produced songs for Michael Jackson, Christina Aguilera and others. He also began recording songs himself, and his 2009 hit “Sex Therapy” was at the top of the R&B charts. His fifth album, “Love After War,” was released in December.

Nick Cannon departs his NYC radio show

NEW YORK

Nick Cannon has stepped down from his New York City radio show.

Cannon said in a statement on the 92.3 NOW website that Friday was his last day hosting the 2-year-old show, called “Rollin’.”

He said doctors had ordered him to cut back on his professional commitments and get more rest.

Said Cannon: “Even Superman has to sleep.”

The 31-year-old entertainer was hospitalized last month after suffering from what his wife, Mariah Carey, called “mild kidney failure.”

The couple became parents of twins, a son, Moroccan, and a daughter, Monroe, last year.

Cannon said he’ll continue to host his syndicated weekend show, “Cannon’s Countdown.” He added that he will “look forward to contributing to 92.3 NOW whenever possible.”

Franklin shocked by Houston’s death

NEW YORK

Aretha Franklin says she believed Whitney Houston had overcome her demons and was primed for a comeback, which made learning of the troubled singer’s death all the more shocking.

Interviewed on NBC’s “Today” show Friday, Franklin said she was watching TV in her hotel room in Charlotte, N.C., when she learned of Whitney’s death in a hotel suite across the country in Beverly Hills, Calif.

Her reaction to the news: “What?! This could not be!”

Franklin said fans should remember Houston for her artistry and not focus on the challenges she faced with substance abuse.

The Queen of Soul long had been a friend and mentor to Houston, who died last Saturday at age 48. Franklin will sing at Houston’s funeral today in Newark, N.J.

Vindicator wire services