From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Jake Wiseman.

A local radio personality was kicked off the air Wednesday after using a racial slur when talking about U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Dave Lenihan (above), who was in his second week as a morning show host on KTRS (550 AM), was fired almost immediately after saying “coon” while describing why Rice would fit well as commissioner of the National Football League.

“She’s been chancellor at Stanford. I mean she’s just got the patent resume of somebody that’s got some serious skill,” Lenihan said, according to a recording provided by KTRS. “She loves football. She’s African-American, which would kind of be a big coon. . . .”

“‘A big coon?’ Oh my god,” Lenihan said during the morning broadcast. “I am totally, totally, totally, totally, totally sorry for that. OK? I didn’t mean that. That was just a slip of the tongue.”

The remark prompted an on-air apology 20 minutes later from the station’s president, who said “there are no excuses” for what was said.

“There is no place for anything like that in this world,” KTRS chief Tim Dorsey said. “There is enough hate. And we certainly are not going to fan those flames.”

Dorsey said he decided to fire Lenihan after listening to the broadcast several times.

“I don’t know what is in Mr. Lenihan’s mind. I know what I heard,” Dorsey said. “I know it was reprehensible.”

The Post-Dispatch’s Real Audio clip of Lenihan’s remarks isn’t working, so it’s hard to speculate about his intent. Either way, this unfortunate incident is yet another excuse to showcase a photograph of Mr. Met touching himself while staring at the Secretary of State.