Radio Jock Apologizes Over Ledger Remarks

Fox News presenter John Gibson has issued an apology after mocking Heath Ledger’s death on air just hours after his shock passing.

The radio jock caused a stir on Tuesday when he played an audio clip from Ledger’s hit flick, Brokeback Mountain, in which Jake Gyllenhaal's character says to Ledger's, "I wish I knew how to quit you."

Gibson then told his listeners, "Well, he found out how to quit you."

Later in the broadcast, Gibson shocked listeners by playing another Brokeback Mountain clip, this time of Ledger's character saying, "We're dead."

The host then distastefully repeated, "We're dead," before playing the clip again.

Gibson also called the 28-year-old star a “weirdo" with a "serious drug problem" – later on going on to suggest that Ledger took his own life because "a serious position in the [stock] market" or because he "watched the Clinton-Obama debate last night."

Rashad Robinson, a spokesman for The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation quickly hit back at Gibson's comments, calling them "vulgar and disgusting," adding that "it's sickening that Gibson would exploit Heath Ledger's tragic death to promote such hurtful intolerance.

Initially refusing to apologise for his remarks, Gibson - who received numerous complaints about his shock remarks - told viewers that he was “sorry that some took my comments as anti-gay and insensitive.”

He added: ”I’m aware that Ledger has a family and many fans who were grief stricken by his sudden death.”

”Those he knew him say he was a great actor and loving fan and what happened to him was terrible and was evidently an accident .”

Is John Gibson's apology enough? Leave your thoughts below!