TV channel says sorry for comment on Chelsea

Angered by ngered by an MSNBC correspondent’s demeaning comment about Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s daughter...

Angered by ngered by an MSNBC correspondent’s demeaning comment about Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s daughter, aides to her presidential campaign said Friday she might pull out of a candidate debate planned by the cable network later this month in Cleveland.

Howard Wolfson, Clinton’s communications director, cast as “beneath contempt” an on-air comment Thursday by MSNBC’s David Shuster, who said that Chelsea Clinton is “sort of being pimped out” as she intensifies her campaigning for her mother.

NBC News announced on Friday afternoon that Shuster had been suspended indefinitely over the remark, which a release termed “irresponsible and inappropriate.”

Shuster apologised on Friday morning on MSNBC for the term he applied to Chelsea. He issued a second apology in the evening on the MSNBC show “Tucker,” where he had uttered his comment while acting as guest host. Hillary Clinton’s campaign staff has been critical of what it considers a hostile attitude toward her in MSNBC’s coverage, and the Shuster incident brought matters to a head. Clinton is seeking more debates with Obama in their race for the Democratic presidential nomination .