BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – According to a Birmingham conservative talk radio host, democratic gubernatorial candidate Parker Griffith overstepped his bounds after a Wednesday morning interview.
Matt Murphy, host of the Matt Murphy Show, says he was verbally and physically threatened by Parker Griffith, and even went as far as to file an incident report with Homewood Police.
Murphy claims the comments from Griffith came off-air after some intense questions about Griffith’s time as a doctor at Huntsville Hospital.
Murphy said on the show, “By the way, during the break, Parker Griffith just referred to me as ‘a piece of blank,’ he threatened to, quote, ‘whip my beep,’ he also called me an m.f.-er. Said the words.”
After the alleged incident, Murphy said on the radio, “Should I call the police? I’m not kidding!”
Murphy said he filed the incident report because he felt threatened and to get it on the record, according to a statement he sent to Yellowhammer News.
Parker Griffith acknowledged the incident and responded to the accusations by saying, “It was a heated, off-the-air discussion. I used some words I probably shouldn’t have used but I thought I was in a private conversation and uh, Alabama – those of us who know Alabama, we understand that I think uh, I think that’s probably all i need to say.”
Griffith today said he’s more interested in talking about his push for a state lottery he says could raise $250 million a year for education.
The Griffith camp released an apology to Murphy and the radio station. It said:
This morning after an appearance on a Birmingham radio show I had a private conversation with the host of the show. The host of the show attacked my character and called me a liar on the air. After the show, I expressed my displeasure with his ridiculous line of questioning which had clearly been provided to him by the Bentley campaign. Thinking it was a private conversation, I used some profanity. The host has decided to post his version of my private comments on his social media making our private conversation public.
I apologize to the host of the show for my choice of words. He was wrong to do what he did, he was wrong to make a private conversation public and he’s a lapdog for the failed Governor Robert Bentley but that does not excuse the fact I used profanity. I should have chosen my words more carefully.
This sort of behavior from the hard core, right wing of the Tea Party and their allies is typical behavior at election time. They will seize upon any distraction to keep people from focusing on the most important issues of this campaign especially the education lottery that I support and Governor Bentley opposes.
