Dear CNN:

We were astonished and deeply offended, as I hope you were, by the Rick Sanchez radio interview where he called Jon Stewart "a bigot" and, when the interviewer noted that Stewart was Jewish, went on to suggest that "everybody that runs CNN is a lot like Stewart" and that "a lot of people who run all the other networks are a lot like Stewart."

Your announcement that Mr. Sanchez was no longer with CNN was a welcome development, and signaled that you had dealt with the situation internally as befitted his remarks.  However, what is missing in the space between his bigoted words and sudden departure from CNN was a clear statement from the network disavowing his anti-Semitism.

There's no doubt that the myth of "Jewish control" of the media lingers in our society, no matter how many times it is proven false.  Over the years ADL's surveys of anti-Semitic attitudes in America have repeatedly shown that a significant subset of Americans continues to buy into the notion that Jews control the media, government and banks.  Their numbers increase exponentially anytime the accusation of Jewish control is repeated by an ill-informed public figure or media celebrity.  In this case, it was especially disturbing coming from Mr. Sanchez, a high-profile media personality with a loyal following on CNN.

We hope that you will take the important step of disavowing Mr. Sanchez's remarks so that they do not linger, unanswered, in the echo chamber of cyberspace and the ether of talk radio, adding fuel to the anti-Semitic myths we have fought so hard to tamp down.  We believe it would be the responsible and right thing for CNN to do in the aftermath of this regrettable incident.