Another CBS radio host gets suspended for racist remarks

[voivod]

Here we go again...

CBS Radio Show Hosts Suspended After Prank Call


CBS Radio suspended two hosts from an FM station in New York City today after an Asian-American advocacy organization complained about the broadcast of a six-minute prank phone call to a Chinese restaurant that was peppered with ethnic and sexual slurs.

The call was first played on “The Dog House With JV and Elvis,” a midmorning show on WFNY, on April 5, the day after Don Imus made his comment about the Rutgers women’s basketball team on WFAN, another CBS-owned station. The call was then replayed on “The Dog House” on Thursday, a week after Mr. Imus was fired by CBS Radio.

In the skit, a series of apparently unsuspecting employees of a Chinese restaurant are berated by a caller who tells one woman he would like to “come to your restaurant” to see her naked, especially a part of her body he refers to as “hot, Asian, spicy.” The caller also attempts to order “flied lice,” brags of his prowess in kung fu and repeatedly curses at several employees.

In a statement on Sunday, the four New York-area chapters of the Organization of Chinese Americans, an advocacy group, demanded an apology from the show’s two hosts and from CBS Radio, and called for the firing of the hosts and their producer.

In an interview today before the suspensions were announced, Vicki Shu Smolin, president of the organization’s New York City chapter, said she was mystified that CBS would allow the call to be broadcast in the first place and then would permit it to be replayed in the aftermath of the Imus incident. (“The Dog House” has been waging a broad campaign in support of Mr. Imus both on the show and on its Web site.)

“I just see plain ignorance in the CBS management — of the community, of who we are, of what we’re all about,” Ms. Shu Smolin said. “If they don’t fire the D.J.’s, it will be a double standard.”

She promised to rip a page from the playbook of the Rev. Al Sharpton, who led the charge for Mr. Imus’s dismissal, by staging protests of CBS Radio and boycotting advertisers on WFNY.

“They don’t think they’re going to get any backlash from the Asian-American community,” she said. “They’re definitely wrong.”

In an e-mail message sent this afternoon, a spokeswoman for CBS Radio, Karen Mateo, said that the two hosts, Jeff Vandergrift (JV) and Dan Lay (Elvis), had been suspended “without pay until further notice.” Mr. Vandergrift, Ms. Mateo said, had apologized on today’s show. The show, which began on WFNY (92.3 FM) in January 2006, can be heard outside the New York City market only via the Internet.

Ms. Shu Smolin said she first learned of the “Dog House” broadcast on Saturday, in an article published by Ming Pao, a Chinese-language daily newspaper in New York. She said her organization had since sent e-mail messages to the general manager and program director of WFNY voicing its concerns, but had to resort to regular mail to reach Leslie Moonves, the president and chief executive of CBS.

“I can’t get any contact info on him,” she said.

It was, she acknowledged, an indication that her organization was not yet as media savvy as Mr. Sharpton’s.

[chefcraig]

Years ago, one station heard locally broadcast a bit where a fellow called a Chinese restaurant on the pretext of buying it. He spoke not a word of Chinese, yet managed to carry on a conversation with the person representing the restaurant for several minutes. No slurs (sexual or ethnic) were used during the entire conversation.

I (among others) felt that it was one of the funniest things I'd ever heard.

If one is going to do a comedy bit, it's usually best to let the guy one is satirising make a fool of himself. Allowing the guy to embarrass himself is far funnier than merely insulting or seriously degrading him.

Sadly, there is a cruelty at work in what passes for humor these days. Just look at NBC's "Real Wedding Crashers" for proof.

[Red]

Here we go again...

[B]CBS Radio Show Hosts Suspended After Prank Call

Jeez, I don't even have to listen to know that these guys are boneheads.

I'm thinking that corporate radio is simply overrun with "Bert and Shecky's Morning Zoo Crew". Just play the next Steve Miller song and lose the played-out comedy bits. I need comedy bits and hijinks about as much as a traffic helicopter and a Y & R update. Frickin' PDs.......

[Dave's Dreidel]

Here's a thought, if you don't like it, change the dial.

It has gotten to the point that you can make fun of dumb blondes and straight white guys and that is about it.

Not that those two ass clowns aren't probably jackasses, but really, c'mon, what's making a little fun of our brothers from the Orient. I am sure there are asian comedians who make fun of us crackers, and I have no problem with it. Everyone just needs to get a thicker skin.

[vhrocker]

Here's a thought, if you don't like it, change the dial.

[Otis5150]

Thank god! I hope these guys get canned too! I tuned into their show one day by mistake and it was just as unlistenable as DLR's show! "Suck" is too kind a term.

[wham bam will rock]

I heard the bit and these guy are total douches.

Having said that...

Has anyone every eaten at "Shitty Wok"?

[sisca]

this is ridiculous. imus shouldn not have been fired and neither should these guys. i seriously doubt there was any hate behind these remarks, just having a little bit of fun at the expense of an ethnic group. when there is a hateful message involved, sure, fire someone. until then, stop being so fucking sensitive, america. this country is turning into a nation full of pussies.

[G3fan]

“They don’t think they’re going to get any backlash from the Asian-American community,” she said. “They’re definitely wrong.”

I have an idea. Let's start firing the assholes who keep talking like this. Asian-American. African-American. If they live here and wanna be called -American, they can buck up and take a joke. Otherwise, go home.

Black people, er, African-Americans always make fun of us white trash people. Why can they do that and get away with it ALL THE TIME?

[voivod]

[Bob_R]

Black people, er, African-Americans always make fun of us white trash people. Why can they do that and get away with it ALL THE TIME?

[wham bam will rock]

I have an idea. Let's start firing the assholes who keep talking like this. Asian-American. African-American. If they live here and wanna be called -American, they can buck up and take a joke. Otherwise, go home.

Black people, er, African-Americans always make fun of us white trash people. Why can they do that and get away with it ALL THE TIME?

I'm just gonna start referring to myself as British-American or White-American, half as a goof and half to fit in.

[Limecuda]

About a month ago Steve Harvey out of New York had a skit that was called "Redneck News". He tried to talk like a southerner and of course made the standard inbred jokes. Odd how this goofball can do things and yet nobody says a word.

[LLFHS]

Fuck radio and every one on it.....the jocks, the executives....and the whiny-ass "defense groups" that have no fucking sense of humor. Fuck all of you.
No more corporate radio for me.

Go fuck donkeys. The country's gone crazy.

[Brett]

Thank god for satellite radio.