John And Ken Show Protested By Latinos, As Conservative Talk Radio Program Expands To New York
(The Huffington Post | Posted: 02/12/2013 6:21 pm EST)
A Latino group is re-launching a campaign against a talk radio show it accuses of fueling hate speech against Hispanics.
The National Hispanic Media Coalition said Tuesday it would renew its push to force the “John and Ken Show” off the air, now that the show will begin syndicating its program in New York, according to La Opiníon.
Despite a round of cultural sensitivity training, the radio personalities have built a reputation for offending people of color, the Coalition says. The hosts routinely bash undocumented immigrants on their show.
The Coalition first launched its attack on the radio duo back in 2011. Just before the passage of the California DREAM Act, the hosts read the cell phone number of immigrant rights activist Jorge Mario Cabrera on air and urged their listeners to call him. Hundreds of “John and Ken Show” fans obeyed, many leaving hateful and threatening messages, including one who said:
You illegal immigrant, piece of sh*t motherf***er. We will do everything to fight you motherf***ers until you’re all dead, you’re all motherf***ing dead.
Kobylt and Chiampou apologized for the incident and wrote in a letter to the Los Angeles Times that they hadn’t intended for their listeners to threaten Cabrera and said his cell phone appeared on his organization’s press releases.
But their response didn’t satisfy the National Hispanic Media Coalition, which says on its website:
For years John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou, hosts of “The John and Ken Show,” have terrorized and targeted Los Angeles communities, creating an atmosphere of hate, intolerance, discrimination and legitimizing hateful attitudes against members of these groups. John and Ken are known to habitually use unsubstantiated claims, divisive language, flawed argumentation and dehumanizing metaphors to shock and anger their audience.
Advertisers including General Motors and the Anaheim Angels pulled their money out of the show in response to a boycott led by Latino activists after the Cabrera incident.
Kobylt and Chiampou were suspended for seven days last year for calling Whitney Houston a “crack ho” after her death. They apologized for the remarks.
With a weekly audience of 1.2 million, the afternoon talk show is one of California’s highest rated, according to Los Angeles Magazine.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhGFte4mLoQ&feature=player_detailpage
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RBR-TVBR: http://rbr.com/nhmc-denounces-john-and-ken-show-addition-in-nyc/
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