Roland Martin of CNN meets with GLAAD over Twitter controversy

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Roland Martin, the recently suspended CNN analyst, appears eager to repair any damage he may have caused with his controversial Super Bowl Sunday tweets. Martin, who is in Los Angeles for the week, spent part of Tuesday meeting with officials from GLAAD, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.

Just over a week ago, Martin sent out a tweet criticizing a TV commercial featuring soccer star David Beckham in his underwear, saying, ‘Ain’t no real bruhs going to H&M to buy some damn David Beckham underwear!... If a dude at your Super Bowl party is hyped about David Beckham’s H&M underwear ad, smack the ish out of him!’

GLAAD immediately began a petition to have CNN fire the analyst. Roland quickly defended his tweets, saying they weren’t homophobic, just misunderstood. Days later, CNN suspended Martin, calling the tweets ‘regrettable and offensive.’

But now, the two parties appear on the path to some kind of peace. GLAAD reported that Martin met with Herndon Graddick, the organization’s senior director of programs, on Valentine’s Day and that ‘Both parties came away with a better understanding of one another and look forward to continuing this dialogue.’

While Martin has not commented on the meeting, beforehand, he was definitely open to the discussion and was sure to keep his bosses at CNN in on the developments, tweeting, ‘Late last night I received word of GLAAD’s invitation to meet with me, and as I have informed CNN... I look forward to meeting with GLAAD in the near future and having a productive dialogue.’

There’s lots of dialogue happening, but will it result in Martin returning to CNN? Time will tell.

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-- Patrick Kevin Day