US news pundit sacked for 'Muslims on planes' comment

A US news analyst has been fired by National Public Radio after saying that he gets nervous when he sees people in Islamic clothes on a plane.

Juan Williams, who has written extensively on race and civil rights, made the remarks on the Fox News Channel.

NPR, which is partially government-funded, issued a statement saying his contract was being terminated after his comments on 'The O'Reilly Factor'.

Williams, 56, said there was too much political correctness.

He told host Bill O'Reilly: "I'm not a bigot. You know the kind of books I've written about the Civil Rights movement in this country. But when I get on a plane ... if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think ... they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous."

Before he was fired, Williams' comments drew a response from Islamic civil rights groups.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations said such commentary from a journalist about other racial, ethnic or religious minority groups would not be tolerated.

Conservative bloggers defended Williams.

"All Juan Williams did is say both exactly how he feels and how many, many other Americans feel on this subject," wrote Erick Erickson on his Red State blog. "The man's body of work makes clear he is no bigot. But we sure can't offend Muslims can we?"