NEW YORK (AP) – The remarks that got radio host Don Imus fired were minor missteps that didn’t warrant dismissal, his producer said.

Mr. Imus “made one small mistake. He ran a red light,” Bernard McGuirk said during a combative debate Friday with the Reverend Al Sharpton. During their appearance together on Fox News Channel’s “Hannity & Colmes” show, Mr. McGuirk called Reverend Sharpton a “race-baiter” who was looking for attention when he led a campaign to fire Imus, while Revrend Sharpton said Mr. mus and Mr. McGuirk got what they deserved for making racist, sexist comments on the air.

“Who elected you the PC police chief?” Mr, McGuirk asked Reverend Sharpton.

Reverend Sharpton countered: “Consumers have the right to say to advertisers: Are your standards going to be where people are attacked based on your gender and race?”

Mr. McGuirk was fired last month for his part in an April 4 exchange on the “Imus in the Morning” program in which the members of the Rutgers University women’s basketball team were called “nappy-headed hos.”

Mr. McGuirk, a 20-year producer and on-air jester for the show that originated on WFAN-AM in New York, called the team “hardcore hos” during the exchange with Mr. Imus.

MSNBC took Imus’ show off the air on April 11, and CBS Radio fired him from his syndicated radio program a day later. Reverend Sharpton held protests and lobbied both networks to fire Mr. Imus.

On Friday, Mr. McGuirk called Reverend Sharpton a “crude … opportunist, a race-baiter” who campaigned against Mr. Imus to help his own career and raise his profile.

While Mr, McGuirk acknowledged that “these words did hurt these girls,” he added, “until you, Reverend Al, got involved, they probably never would have heard of it. They would have probably never, quote unquote, got scarred for life until you got involved for your own self-serving interests.”

Reverend Sharpton said he wasn’t looking for more attention – “if you have any recollection at all, I had been in the papers all year,” he said. He said Messrs. Imus and McGuirk may have apologized for the remark, but “forgiveness is not the point. The question is the penalty.”

Mr. McGuirk countered that Reverend Sharpton “terrorized these spineless, thumbsucking executives” into taking Imus off the air. In an earlier appearance on “Hannity & Colmes,” he said the executives “were in a fetal position under their desks sucking their thumbs on their BlackBerrys, trying to coordinate their response.”

Reverend Sharpton responded: “What he is saying is: We want to apologize, and we want to decide what the penalty is.” He said many people wanted Mr, Imus fired, including many NBC employees.

“Is Al Roker one of these guys hiding under the desk with a BlackBerry?” Reverend Sharpton asked.

Revrend Sharpton also came under fire for his recent comments about presidential candidate Mitt Romney, in which Reverend Sharpton said that “those of us who believe in God” would defeat the Republican. Reverend Sharpton has denied he was questioning the Mormon’s own belief in God, saying he was instead contrasting himself with the atheist author he was debating at the time.

Reverend Sharpton argued that his and Mr. Imus’ words were not similar – and challenged Mr. McGuirk to offer an acceptable context for Mr. Imus’ remark.

“That was over the line, by the way, but there was comedic context,” Mr. McGuirk replied.

Mr. Imus has not spoken publicly since his dismissal, but his lawyer has said he intends to sue CBS for $120 million. The lawyer has said the network encouraged irreverent, off-color comments on the program.