On March 9, 2009, CNN announced that Hughley would be ending the show due to a desire to work in Los Angeles and be closer to his family.
He took the show into a medical marijuana dispensary to get his doctor's prescription refilled for chronic back pain, but CNN censored that portion of the segment.
[1][2] On his February 28, 2009 show, while discussing the Republican National Committee's attempts to gain popularity with the black community, Hughley expressed an opinion to RNC's Chairman Michael Steele and rapper Chuck D. Hughley observed, in reference to the majority whiteness of the attendants to the 2008 Republican National Convention, "The tenets of the Republican Party are amazing and they seem warm and welcome.
"[3][4] Hughley's comparison was criticized by conservative commentator Andrew C. McCarthy, who called it a "slanderous claim".
[5] Steele also received criticism from conservatives for the same episode, both for expressing agreement with Hughley, and for a comment he made earlier on the show, dismissing radio host Rush Limbaugh as "an entertainer", and calling his radio show "incendiary" and "ugly".