Rodner Figueroa has been fired by Univision for controversial comments he made about first lady Michelle Obama.

Figueroa hosted multiple shows for the network such as "Sal y Pimienta" and "El Gordo y La Flaca," People En Español reported.

HuffPost Voces reached Univision via e-mail and confirmed the firing.

Shortly after making the remarks, TV host and radio personality Javier Ceriani posted the video of the moment where Figueroa made racist comments about Obama.

Thursday morning, Ceriani shared a link to a story announcing Figueroa's firing on his Twitter page.

The moment occurred during a segment of "El Gordo y La Flaca." Figueroa was talking about make-up artist Paolo Ballesteros' recent tasks of transforming himself into female celebrities. Ballesteros has changed his face with makeup to look like other women, such as Kim Kardashian.

Figueroa, who is a fashionista and has made many critical remarks similar to those made on the show "Fashion Police," looked at Ballesteros' transformation into Michelle Obama and made comments on it.

"You know that Michelle Obama looks like she's part of the cast of 'Planet of the Apes,' the film," he said.


In the video, some can be heard laughing after Figueroa's comments, but because the camera was not on them, it is not possible to tell what everyone's initial reactions were. The show's host Raul de Molina tried to fix the situation by saying he thought Obama was very attractive. "El Gordo y La Flaca" was aired live on the East Coast, but was edited on the West Coast.

Univision took quick action after the comments were made. They took down Figueroa's links from their webpage and he does not appear on the website's "talent" section.

"At Univision there's no space for racist comments," an executive told People En Español.

No announcements have been made on who will take over for Figueroa on "Sal y Pimienta" or a replacement for him on "Nuestra Belleza Latina."

Rodner has written a letter apologizing to Obama for his comments.

"I want to clear up that I am not racist and that in no way was my comment directed at you, rather at the artist's characterization, who left much to be desired," he said in a letter to LatinWe.

He also said that he has African heritage in his family.

"I am embarrassed, I ask forgiveness, because there is no excuse for a professional like me to make comments like this that can be misinterpreted as offensive and racist during such a volatile time in our country," he continued. "I take responsibility for this error in judgment on my part, but I can not accept being called racist and fired like this, humiliated publicly by Univision, after 17 years there. I come from a bi-racial Latino family, with family members like my father, who are Afro-Latino. I am the first openly gay host on Spanish-language television and I have been an activist for causes to help minorities, who like me have been discriminated against. I voted openly two times for your husband, Barack Obama, because I consider him to be a great man who respects minorities like me in this country."

What do you think of Univision's decision to fire Figueroa? Leave us a comment below and let us know.