Rush Limbaugh Calls George Steinbrenner 'Cracker' on Radio Show

NEW YORK -- Rush Limbaugh had his own view of George Steinbrenner.

"That cracker made a lot of African-American millionaires," the radio commentator said Tuesday on his show after the New York Yankees owner died at age 80. "He fired a bunch of white guys as managers left and right."

Rev. Al Sharpton called Limbaugh's statements "repugnant and offensive whether they were intended to be facetious or tongue and cheek."

"For the last 20-years I have known George Steinbrenner and we have quarreled over diversity and community programs but I always found him fair, direct, and genuinely prone to do what he felt was right," Sharpton said in a statement. "He generated a lot of money for a lot of players as well as for baseball as a whole. ... Mr. Limbaugh and his broadcasters owe his family an apology."