NEW YORK — Talk show host Laura Schlessinger says her desire to talk freely without having affiliates and sponsors attacked led to her abrupt decision to end her "Dr. Laura" radio show later this year.

Schlessinger said she is walking away a week after apologizing for saying the N-word 11 times on the air while talking to a black woman with a white husband, then saying "if you're that hypersensitive about color and don't have a sense of humor, don't marry out of your race."

She apologized a day after the Aug. 10 remarks, but Media Matters for America called for her removal from the talk show.

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