Boston Radio Host Apologizes
The co-host of a popular radio sports show was suspended Thursday for two days without pay for on-air comments comparing a zoo's escaped gorilla to inner-city students who use a voluntary busing program known as Metco.
John Dennis of WEEI-AM apologized to listeners Wednesday for the remark he made two days earlier after seeing a newspaper photograph of the gorilla standing by a bus stop. He said the animal was "probably a Metco gorilla waiting for a bus."
The state-run busing program lets minority children from the inner city attend schools in nearby suburbs.
In announcing the suspension, station vice president and general manager Tom Baker issued a statement apologizing to the community and "anyone offended" by the remark.
"John Dennis has been an outstanding employee at WEEI for past seven years," Baker added. "During that time, he has never said or done anything that has caused even the slightest negative reaction."
Dennis did not return calls for comment. He will be off the air Friday and Monday. In addition to the suspension, the station has offered Metco free public service announcements and will explore additional ways to help the desegregation program, Baker said.
Dennis' comments outraged black leaders in Boston, who had argued that Wednesday's apology was not an adequate response.
"Based on the fact that he's making fun of black children, he should be gone," said Sadiki Kambon, director of the Black Community Information Center in the Roxbury section of Boston.
However, Metco board chairwoman Kahris White-McLaughlin said she would not seek Dennis' resignation.
"It was a painful comparison," White-McLaughlin said. "He brought back all of those stereotypical images of Jane and Tarzan and the negative things that people used to say about the continent of Africa. But we're hoping that out of a bad situation, something good can emerge."
The gorilla broke out of its enclosure at the Franklin Park Zoo on Sunday, injuring a 2-year-old and a teenager before it was sedated and recaptured almost two hours later.
Some felt Dennis' offense was worse than comments by conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh on ESPN that led to his resignation late Wednesday. Limbaugh said Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb was overrated because the media wanted to see a black quarterback succeed.
"I think it's worse because you're dealing with children," Democratic state Rep. Shirley Owens-Hicks said. "I'm speechless. I'm beside myself that there are still people in this world who have such negative, racist thoughts and have the temerity to put those thoughts into words in a public venue."
By Jennifer Peter