Newsletter

June 2007
Op-Ed: Where do we draw the line?

The following column reflects the opinions of two long time CAPA members. In this feature, these two individuals of contrasting backgrounds offer their insights on the two New York radio hosts who were fired by CBS Radio after they twice broadcast a racially charged prank call targeting employees at a Chinese restaurant.

Joel Wong
One of the benefits of living in the United States is our right to freedom of speech. In this land of the free we can pretty much say what we want without the fear of persecution from our government or anyone else. Recently, the hosts of two very popular CBS radio/television shows were fired because they said something members of ethnic minorities deemed sexist and racist. These two cases are controversial, and they warrant our close examination on where political correctness ends and censorship begins.

Since Don Imus first arrived in the New York scene as a radio and television host in 1971, he has been controversial as he often says things that many deemed racist, sexist or homophobic. On April 17, 2007 he jokingly referred to the Rutgers Women's Basketball team members as "nappy-headed ho's'' after they were defeated in the NCAA finals. That incident brought a loud outrage from the African American community that eventually led to his firing.

The other incident also happened in the Big Apple on "The Dog House with JV & Elvis" show, where a prank caller to a Chinese restaurant engaged in lewd sexist language and racial slurs while mocking foreign accents and conjuring up ugly stereotypes about Asian Americans. The segment aired twice on WFNY in April around the time Don Imus was getting fired. The Chinese American communities in NYC were outraged, as were Asian Americans around the country. JV & Elvis were put on administrative leave, but the Asian communities didn't think that was punishment enough and started a campaign to boycott the advertisers of the show. Eventually, they were also fired from CBS.

The Don Imus case was so controversial that 5 magazine devoted a whole issue to the boundary of freedom of speech. Imus filed a lawsuit against CBS claiming that he was hired to be controversial and that was exactly what he was doing. Besides, the "nappy-headed ho's'' phrase was conjured up by some African American hip-hop artist that he was only quoting. Many comedians and talk show hosts claimed that their material could be severely limited if they could not crack jokes of a racial nature. In the name of freedom of speech and humor, some white Americans of Polish, Italian and Irish decent also went on air to claim that they don't particularly mind jokes that make fun of their ethnicity.

Personally I see some merits in their argument. However, there is a huge difference between the two cases. If you have been following them closely you will know that the two WFNY DJs verbally preyed on several innocent wait staff with limited English ability. At one point the caller told a waitress that he wanted to come over and see her "naked hot Asian spicy ass". This is a direct verbal assault and it crossed the line of "freedom of speech" under which you probably could joke about one's ethnicity. The line was definitely crossed when this direct sexist/racist insult was delivered to a defenseless victim in the name of humor.

That is the way I see it.

Joel Wong is a retired scientist/engineer from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. He was deeply affected by the rush of judement and the lack of due process when Wen Ho Lee, a fellow National Laboratory employee, was accused of spying. Joel believes that Asian Americans should be more active in community service, participate in the political process and demand equal justice and treatment for all Asian Americans. Joel joined CAPA in 1997 and has served as its President for three terms.

Joel was born and raised in Hong Kong.

Seeyuen Lee
There was a time I myself listened the Dog House on morning radio. KYLD 94.9 was a popular station in the Bay Area when I was in high school, and for a short time, JV and Elvis bantered and made bad raunchy jokes through my clock radio at six AM every morning. Eventually I tired of their tasteless humor and re-tuned my radio to another station. Clear Channel Communications, parent to San Francisco-based KYLD, tired of them as well, firing the two DJs in 2005 for making sexist remarks towards a station guest.

Finding out that they had again been fired last month from a New York station for inappropriate statements was not so surprising to me. I would say that in light of their past experiences and the recent demise of fellow CBS radio host Don Imus, "shock jocks" Jeff Vandergrift and Dan Lay couldn't have been that surprised, either. The question that immediately came to my mind was, when did "shock jock" become such a coveted title that anyone would try to turn bigotry into entertainment?

The fact is that there is an audience for this kind of unsavory material. The kind of talk that folks like Imus and Vandergrift and Lay perpetuate is a response to the growing popularity of media that pushes the boundaries of social norms.

The existence of the Dog House as radio programming cannot be blamed solely on the notion that the show's hosts are racist and sexist. Should they take responsibility for their actions? Absolutely. But the bigger problem seems to be that they are reacting to an audience that responds positively to their antics and continues to support them. The show is notorious for its crude jokes, yet following their firing from KYLD, the station in New York still felt compelled to pick up the Dog House in an attempt to augment their programming.

I see the real problem in this situation as a society that has developed a perverse sense of humor and get its laughs from bullying unsuspecting minorities and other frequently marginalized people. In what kind of nation does blatant offensiveness so easily replaces tolerance? What does it say about progress when Vandergrift's Asian-American wife publicly defends her husband's actions? Can we really be surprised that people like Vandergrift and Lay are paid to crack vulgar jokes on the radio? I applaud the actions of the Organization of Chinese Americans and elected officials (including California State Senator Leland Yee, for whom I interned through CAPA's program) in their efforts to hold CBS accountable and removing the Dog House from the air. Despite their best efforts, however, we haven't targeted the root cause. I can't lay claim to the ideal solution myself, but I do hope that change is on the horizon so.

Seeyuen Lee was an intern for CAPA in the summer of 2000. She graduated from Wellesley College in 2005 and from Boston University School of Public Health this past spring. She will be entering medical school this fall at Tulane University. Seeyuen was born in New Jersey and raised in California.