NEW YORK, April 24, 2007
CBS Radio Suspends 2 For Racial Prank
NYC Station's Hosts Called Chinese Restaurant And Made Lewd, Offensive Comments
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The hosts of "The Dog House With JV and Elvis" in a promotional picture. (CBS Radio)
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The hosts of the daily morning show, WFNY-FM's "The Dog House With JV and Elvis," have been suspended indefinitely without pay, CBS Radio spokeswoman Karen Mateo told The New York Times in an e-mail Monday. One of the hosts, Jeff Vandergrift, apologized on Monday's show, she said.
Local chapters of the Organization of Chinese Americans, an advocacy group, released a statement Sunday protesting the segment. By Monday, California State Sen. Leland Yee and others joined the campaign.
In the segment, broadcast on April 5 and again last week, a caller to a Chinese restaurant intersperses an order for takeout with lewd language and racial slurs.
The caller tells one female employee he wants to come to the restaurant to see her naked and refers to a part of her body as "hot, Asian, spicy."
The caller attempts to order "shrimp flied lice" and refers to a male employee as "Chinese man" before claiming himself to be a student of kung fu.
At one point he refers to a part of the employee's body as a "tiny egg roll."
The show's hosts, Vandergrift and Dan Lay, have been campaigning online and on the air in support of Imus since his firing for making sexist and racist comments about the Rutgers University women's basketball team.
Community advocates pushed for CBS to fire the hosts of the show, which can be heard only in the New York City area and on the Internet.
"If they don't fire the DJ's, it will be a double standard," said Vicki Shu Smolin, president of the New York City chapter of the Organization of Chinese Americans.
CBS Radio and CBSNews.com are both part of CBS Corp.
© MMVII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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See all 87 CommentsPosted by mitch0927 at 09:06 AM : Apr 24, 2007
BTW - Your caplock key is On.
Also BTW - What is your family heritage?
In other words, the right, spurred on by the dramatic firing of Imus is now targeting other hosts after discovering all they have to do is claim they are "offended" and then the stations fire the employees. Only a matter of time before we have nothing but Disney and Billy Graham crusades on the airwaves
So guys, if you want to be funny, diversify your style and content. Then maybe you will be successful comedians worth paying to hear.
I think a better question is whatever happened to respect for others?
Where is the humor in taunting someone about their accent, the way they look, their clothes, the color of their skin, their gender, their "sexual" orientation?
Why is any of that considered by anybody to be humorous?
You are right on!
And it is funny when it is about someone else that is getting joked. When everybody know that if these bloggers, in support of the shock jocks, were sitting in the front row at a comedy show and the comedian focused their jokes on them, they would become very sensitive.
I don't mind people joking about public figures, just as long as they are not trying to get to personal.
What about all the people who crack jokes on Texans for their accents, big hats, and ginormous belt buckles?
What about Valley girl jokes?
Pretty soon we'll be left with two jokes, the chicken crossing the road (only in its original form), and maybe one very inoccuous knock-knock joke.
If you don't like what's on that station, change the channel. If you don't have enough channels to find what you like, get satellite radio. If you can't find anything there, TURN IT OFF!
Somehow I manage to do it, why can't you?
Posted by mitch0927 at 10:04 AM : Apr 24, 2007
BTW - The cleaners called - Your white sheet is ready.
LOL
The only jokes you can tell anymore are about white,Christian,male,heterosexuals. Everyone else is off limits.
Case closed........
Two things:
In humor there is always an element of truth.
In humor the joke is always made at the expense of something (someone) else.
The problem with the racist humor that all these supporters here at CommentCBS can't see is that racism tries to use racist humor to make it look like the way they think "ain't all that bad". The problem is, it's bad humor... not very sophisticated (about 10 or 11-year old humor) and READ THIS ONE FOLKS, it's not intended to be funny, it's intended to be mean, and it's the meanness of it that people (who like that sort of thing) think is funny. Ban it all. And stop justifying it all with rapper and hip-hop music, two bads don't make a good.
Sticks and Stones, remember??? There are REAL issues out there people!!!
Sticks and Stones, remember??? Posted by opinion4U at 11:47 AM : Apr 24, 2007
Posted by jdweymouth at 06:21 AM : Apr 24, 2007
10 Steps to racial war or genocide:
1. First call names, slurs
2. Make jokes, cartoons, use in propaganda
3. Stereotype and suggest target group is the cause of societies ills
4. Enact legislation aimed at curtailing rights of targeted group
5. Profile members of that group
6. Through propaganda, encourage other groups as seeing the target group as a problem and that any prejudice or harm to them is justified
7. Begin verbally abusing the group and sanctioning the abuse
8. Allow persecution of that group to go either unpunished or lightly punished
9. Incarcerate or segregate that group and say it is for their own good
10. Engage in mass deportations or extermination of "problem group"
Note: it always just begins with words--and is allowed to fester and grow from there. Zero Tolerance--they should be off the air permanently. lest the message be one of pushing the racial envelope as far as people can.
Hopefully this will help draw the line on the difference between humor (give me Bill Cosby anytime) and mean-spirtedness (like these two). I've never understood why today's humor has to be foul-mouthed and mean-spirted.
I express my discontent by not listening to such shows. If enough folks do that these shows wouldn't exist, in the mean time if you upset a large segment of the population that could impact advertising dollars (and that is an area where any executive will tell you, your free speach ends!).
Put downs, making fun of, insults...whatever it is, is purely to get/see a reaction from the intended victim. All this holier-than-tho *** about free speech is 100% bull. You're just looking to entertain yourself at another's expense.
"The only jokes you can tell anymore are about white,Christian,male,heterosexuals. Everyone else is off limits."
Sad, but it seems that there are only crude, racially motivated jokes for almost everyone else BUT.
Kinda tells you who the main instigators are. . .
"The only jokes you can tell anymore are about white,Christian,male,heterosexuals. Everyone else is off limits."
Sad, but it seems that there are only crude, racially motivated jokes for almost everyone else BUT.
Kinda tells you who the main instigators are. . .
I don't condone the offensive remarks that were made by Don Imus. Should he have been suspended? Yes. Should he have been fired? No. He apologized, profusely, for his offensive remarks. He should have been given the chance to redeem himself. CBS, NBC and the advertisers who sponsor these programs, have now set a self inflicted precedent.
You caved in to Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, both less than stellar representatives of their race. Hypocrites in their own right.
JV and Elvis are guilty of lewd, racial slurs against the Chinese community. They apologized. Now, in all fairness they must be fired. You can't pick and choose which racial groups are immune to the language of bigotry. If they are not fired, I can only assume that it's because the Chinese don't have an Al or Jesse type screaming in the background.
I often wonder what kind of folks listen to and watch these shows. From some of your postings, I guess I've gotten the answer to that question.
I don't condone the offensive remarks that were made by Don Imus. Should he have been suspended? Yes. Should he have been fired? No. He apologized, profusely, for his offensive remarks. He should have been given the chance to redeem himself. CBS, NBC and the advertisers who sponsor these programs, have now set a self inflicted precedent.
You caved in to Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, both less than stellar representatives of their race. Hypocrites in their own right.
JV and Elvis are guilty of lewd, racial slurs against the Chinese community. They apologized. Now, in all fairness they must be fired. You can't pick and choose which racial groups are immune to the language of bigotry. If they are not fired, I can only assume that it's because the Chinese don't have an Al or Jesse type screaming in the background.
"Sad, but it seems that there are only crude, racially motivated jokes for almost everyone else BUT.
Kinda tells you who the main instigators are. . . "
Are you saying there are no white guy jokes, no irish jokes, no POLISH jokes. You people leading crusade must be even more miserable and humorless than we defending satire give you credit for.
Would I want to live in a world where you can't make fun of irish guys for drinking, blondes for being dumb? No, it gives spice to life and makes living interesting. People are WAY to easily offended.
Save JV and Elvis, it's just a joke.
Why can't you put the blame where it belongs - on the corporate heads who have been sanctioning unacceptable behavior all these years.
You defenders of folks like these guys and Don Imus are only showing your true feelings.
Enough already of this *** that passes for entertainment.
And enough of you people who think that it's okay to insult ANY racial or ethnic group.
OK so they made fun of someone on the radio, should they be fired for that? Are we going to go after television for making fun of people? The internet? That's INSANE, plain and simple.
These are the same CBS execs that put Couric into a job well beyond her limited talents.
Couric's insensitive, disgraceful hatchet-job on the John Edwards and his wife amply demonstrated that she is incapable of reasoned reporting. She should have been sent back to doing fluff pieces long ago, but the CBS weasels can't seem to the do the right thing under any circumstances.
Hear that sound? - it's Edward R. Murrow turning over in his grave at what has become of the once Tiffany Network's news. Under Couric, it's just another K-Mart bargain basement bin.
I do hope Couric gets some solace from playing with her Mimbo.
By your logic coach, we should first eliminate all VIOLENCE on television. If your kids don't see it they will know violence isn't tolerated in our culture. Given that violent crime is a much bigger threat than hurt feelings, we should be going after 24, law and order, and every other show that depicts violence on television.
Fortunately we managed to eliminate nudity and *** on public television and that cleaned up our teenage pregnancy rates quite nicely didn't it? Mission accomplished!
You're a fraud. You know as well as everyone on this blog that you are just as careful about where you say jokes. Yeah, it sounds cool on the radio right? If you would do it on the radio, you should be big and bad enough to say it at your place to employment. Because we know this is what you do. You say ethnic, sexist and racist jokes to everyone around you - including those that you work with...correct?
If you don't like CBS News because of Katie Couric, Al Sharpton, and Jesse Jackson, then it is easy what you should do - get off CBSNews.com. Otherwise, STOP being a hypcocrite and talking.
acctriangle,
I wouldn't make racist or inappropriate comments at work or even in my private life. It just isn't something that I aspire to. That doesn't mean that I find all racial humor offensive or that I won't laugh at a clever joke or reference. Just because this is something I choose not to do doesn't mean it should be mandated by the radio parent company. Sure, business is business, and if advertisers are jumping ship and the show is losing ratings that's one thing, but executives shouldn't pick and choose what type of joke is offensive, and they DEFINATELY shouldn't listen to any of these moronic special interest groups. The economics of the situation will work itself out through advertising dollars and listener ratings, that I have no problem with. It's this PC-intervening and babying from a station called "FREE" is beyond ironic into the realm of absurd.
I also think that if they are to enforce these rules they should be enforced across the board, the problem is if they do this there will be noone left on the radio. As a result, the rules will be enforced selectively resulting in a limited and possibly tailored number of viewpoints going out over the airwaves. I am simply not in favor of this witch-hunt.
"it's not intended to be funny, it's intended to be mean" Posted by duhrer
Yes, evil is a slippery devil that manifests itself in the sneakiest of ways all across the colour spectrum. It doesn't care who you are only how it can hurt you.
I've been the butt of some bizarre "jokes". I'm a short, blonde, female who looks younger than my age. There was the boss who "joked" that he thought the physical demands of the job would "increase the muscle mass" of my chest; another "joked" that he imagined me sleeping on his office couch "like a little blonde angel baby"; one suggested I wear my hair in "cute little pig tails" so he could tug on them to reprimand me; the co-worker who blocked my office door & insisted he'd give me a massage because I seemed "a little up tight". Once was told I looked like "a wee boy" because I wore pants! Ha ha ha. Not.
These incidences & many others were hurtful, insulting & bordered on dangerous. When confronted these men claimed they were "only joking" & that I was "a big baby who couldn't take a joke".
Most of these incidences happened before s-xu@l harrassment laws. So yeah, it starts out as a "little joke" but quickly turns into a deadly jab- to one's self esteem, reputation or life.
I'm sad to think of the h-ll that women of colour face every day in the work place, the streets or even on a college basketball team!
What happened to respect, or did we never have it?
Okay. I am sorry about that. I see your point fully now and I agree. Thanks for giving me the insight into your thought. We can agree.
I think you are right because the news organizations should have their values, mission and vision statement. And if they put programming on that is not consistent, then they look like hypocrites, like NBC News was. I did not like Imus' comments but they obviously did until the advertisers jumped off, but then they wanted to claim it was Imus' views. This was not true, it was the economics.
But again, I agree. And thanks for clarification. You are a good person!
Hmmm. Seems to me I read something about a shooting in Virginia not too many days ago...And the report on the shooter was that he had been harrassed pretty badly since junior high. But, according to you, words can't hurt. Yes, it sounded like there were other issues at play for that individual, but harrassment and getting bullied and picked-on were part of his history. But, that's not our problem, right? Yet another individual slips through the cracks of society because words can't hurt.
By the way--verbal abuse and teen pregnancy? Kind of apples and oranges, don't you think?
"By the way--verbal abuse and teen pregnancy? Kind of apples and oranges, don't you think?"
Sort of like verbal abuse and mass-homicide, eh coach?
Yes! By all means, let's continue to feed the culture of harrassment and ridicule.
Get your head out of the sand.
You work with kids (I assume if you're a coach), ask them what radio shows they listen to. They don't; they have ipods.
So lets add radio to the list of things we can't do because it may inspire people to kill others: Music, Video Games, Television (every channel but PBS), Radio (every channel but NPR), Internet (including this forum)...
I refuse to give up my right to listen to music and drive my car because a few overstimulated psychopaths can't handle it. If that makes me insensitive, then sign me up.
Check out this article http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21607426-1245,00.html
some people are just crazy and kill people, theres no sense in it. Trying to point to reasons as a reasonable and rational person will get you nowhere, because your mindset is completely different then some maniac murderer.
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