CHAPEL HILL – GOP Chairman, Claude Pope, called for columnist, former U.S. Senate candidate, and host of N.C. Bookwatch on UNC-TV, D.G. Martin’s public television show that has no political aspect to it to be pulled because of a column written entitled “Egypt, Nazi Germany, and North Carolina.”

“I don’t think it will have a lot of impact on the way I write,” Martin said in an interview on the WCHL Saturday Morning News. “I love the opportunity to share my views and to make friends through the writing of the column.”

***Listen to the Full Interview***

“We’re arguing about whether or not the controversy has legs, I do know that a lot more people have read my column this week than usual,” Matin said.

Martin said Pope likely regrets his decision to say these things as it has brought attention to a column Martin was referring to in the piece that says North Carolina is a great state, but asks where is it going.

“By accident, the Republican party chairman has caused wider circulation of a column, not the things that he disagreed with,” Martin said.

To read Martin’s column Pope refers to, click here.

In an article on WRAL, 259 commented as of 6:45 a.m. Saturday both for and against D.G. Martin’s and Claude Pope’s comments.

The article states that Pope demanded an apology for his words, which he did. However, he said he stands by his comments in his column.

“If anybody feels like I called them a Nazi or said that they’re like Nazis or something like that, then I do need to apologize, because I didn’t intend that,” Martin said.