©2007 Associated Press
May 13, 2007
One month after the firing of radio host Don Imus, a pair of suspended New York shock jocks have been permanently pulled from the air by CBS Radio for a prank phone call rife with Asian stereotypes.
“The Dog House with JV and Elvis,” featuring Jeff Vandergrift and Dan Lay, “will no longer be broadcast,” CBS Radio spokeswoman Karen Mateo said yesterday.
CBS Radio dismissed Mr. Imus in April for a comment he made about the Rutgers women’s basketball team. He plans a $120 million breach of contract lawsuit.
The cancellation of the other show yesterday, nearly three weeks after Mr. Vandergrift and Mr. Lay were suspended, was another indication of the increased scrutiny on radio hosts and the heightened sensitivity of management to complaints in the wake of Mr. Imus’s firing.
“This is a victory not only for the Asian-American community, but for all communities who find themselves constant targets of racist and sexist programming,” said Jeanette Wang, an executive with the Organization of Chinese Americans.
Ms. Mateo declined to comment further on the “JV and Elvis” show, whose time slot on WFNY-FM was immediately after that of the shock jocks known as Opie and Anthony.
Gregg Hughes, who is Opie, and Anthony Cumia return to the station’s airwaves tomorrow after issuing an apology for a segment on their own satellite radio program in which they laughed as a homeless man fantasized about raping Condoleezza Rice and Laura Bush. The Rev. Al Sharpton, who played a role in Mr. Imus’s firing, said that Mr. Hughes and Mr. Cumia should also be fired.
Mr. Vandergrift and Mr. Lay made their comments on April 5. The pair broadcast a call to a Chinese restaurant; the caller, in an exaggerated accent, placed an order for “shrimp flied lice,” claimed he was a student of kung fu and compared menu items to employees’ body parts.
The initial airing of the call went unnoticed, but a re-airing of the segment after Mr. Imus’s firing prompted an outcry from Asian-American groups.
Mr. Vandergrift and Mr. Lay were initially suspended without pay, but Asian-Americans quickly demanded the same penalty that had been applied to Mr. Imus.
Ms. Mateo would not comment on the status of the contracts of Mr. Vandergrift and Mr. Lay or whether they were still on the CBS payroll.
As word spread about the fate of JV and Elvis, more than 100 people turned out for a rally in Union Square in support of them and other radio personalities under fire. “I find censorship to be far more offensive than anything that was said,” said Debbie Wolf of Far Hills, N.J., president of People Against Censorship.