June 4
UPDATE: Snapple, Sonic & Chipotle Pull Advertising From KRXQJune 5 UPDATE: Verison Wireless has no plans for any advertising and Carl’s Jr.®, Hardee’s®, Green Burrito® and Red Burrito® restaurants pull sponsorship from KEXQ. (see link at botom of post)
UPDATE June 5 Wells Fargo removes logo from KRXQ website and affirms its commitment to diversity. More at bottom of post.
Update June 5 AP Reports
Bank of America, Verizon Verizon Communications Inc., Nissan Motor Co Pull Advertising From KRXQTAKE ACTION: Demand that KRXQ Radio Hosts Rob Williams and Arnie States Apologize for Encouraging Violence Against Transgender Children
Contact:Cindi Creager
Director of National News
(646) 871-8019
Richard Ferraro
Director of Public Relations
(646) 871-8011
June 2, 2009— In a lengthy May 28 tirade on the Rob, Arnie & Dawn in the Morning radio show heard in Sacramento, California on KRXQ 98.5 FM and Reno, Nevada on KDOT 104.5 FM, hosts Rob Williams and Arnie States verbally attacked transgender children. While discussing a recent story about a transgender child in Omaha, Nebraska and her parents’ decision to support her transition, the two hosts spent more than 30 minutes explicitly promoting child abuse of and making cruel, dehumanizing and defamatory comments toward transgender children.
You can listen to the entire segment beginning at 4:48 by clicking this link:
http://robarnieanddawn.com/newsite/audiofiles/05.28.09%20Transgender%20Children%20In%20America.mp3Among the comments made by the hosts:
ROB WILLIAMS [11:12]: This is a weird person who is demanding attention. And when it’s a child, all it takes is a hug, maybe some tough love or anything in between. When your little boy said, ‘Mommy, I want to walk around in a dress.’ You tell them no cause that’s not what boys do. But that’s not what we’re doing in this culture.
ARNIE STATES [13:27]: If my son, God forbid, if my son put on a pair of high heels, I would probably hit him with one of my shoes. I would throw a shoe at him. Because you know what? Boys don’t wear high heels. And in my house, they definitely don’t wear high heels.
ROB WILLIAMS [17:45]: Dawn, they are freaks. They are abnormal. Not because they’re girls trapped in boys bodies but because they have a mental disorder that needs to be somehow gotten out of them. That’s where therapy could help them.
ROB WILLIAMS [18:15]: Or because they were molested. You know a lot of times these transgenders were molested. And you need to work with them on that. The point is you don’t allow the behavior. You cure the cause!ARNIE STATES [21:30]: You got a boy saying, ‘I wanna wear dresses.’ I’m going to look at him and go, ‘You know what? You’re a little idiot! You little dumbass! Look, you are a boy! Boys don’t wear dresses.
’
ARNIE STATES [29:22]: You know, my favorite part about hearing these stories about the kids in high school, who the entire high school caters around, lets the boy wear the dress. I look forward to when they go out into society and society beats them down. And they end up in therapy.
To her credit, co-host Dawn Rossi stood up to Williams and States during the segment.
Despite her apparent lack of familiarity with transgender issues, Rossi repeatedly defended transgender people and made an on-air apology for her colleagues’ defamatory remarks.
TAKE ACTION NOW!
Please contact KRXQ management in Sacramento, California, where the show is produced and demand that radio show hosts Rob Williams and Arnie States publicly apologize. Call on KRXQ to hold Williams and States accountable for their remarks and establish clear standards to ensure their media platform will not be used to condone or promote violence against any parts of the communities they serve.
John Geary
Vice President & General -FM
On Air PersonalityKRXQ-FM
(916) 334-7777
Air PersonalityKRXQ-FM
Please email the station advertisers. Please feel free to copy and paste this email~
pr@ckr.com, trcigar@aol.com, christine.wilcox@albertsonsllc.com, enewswire@fypower.org, info@fypower.org, Darryll.harrison@nissan-usa.com, john.britton@att.com, Debra.Lewis@VerizonWireless.com, walt.riker@us.mcd.com, heidi.barker@us.mcd.com, rmckenney@barkleyus.com, corpcsf@wellsfargo.com, info@LASIKworld.com, procity@procitymortgage.com
To Whom It May Concern,
I am writing today to request that you pull your advertising from KRXQ radio station.
On May 28th two radio personalities Rob Williams and Arnie States launched into a half hour long tirade where they spoke repeated hate speech and defamation against transgendered men, women, and youth.
They spent over half an hour calling transgendered people “freaks” and “weirdos”. On that particular show they appeared to advocate for bashing, both verbally and physically, transgendered people.
This bashing was either an attempt to “knock some sense into them” or “let them know that it isn’t right to be that way”.
Since that first show the two men have gone back onto the air to address the issue after receiving 100s of mails and phone calls from people and organizations all over the world.
In the follow up, they made it abundantly clear that they did not advocate for abusing or hurting children for any reason. They were joking. It was a joke made in poor taste, but a joke none the less.
What they did not do, was make an apology for calling transgendered people, of all ages, names. Saying it was their right to do so.
People saying that it is ok to use hate speech is what continues to allow it to happen. People like this are what makes people all over the world think that it is ok to bash, whether verbally or physically, someone who is different.
And it is not!
I am requesting that you pull your advertising if Rob and Arnie do not make a sincere apology, or the station does not fire them.
I will be forced to discontinue use of your product and encourage everyone I know to not use your product if you do not send them this message.
Thank you for your time.
Please use the share page functionality at the top of this page to alert any of your friends and others who may also wish to take action. When contacting KRXQ, please ensure that your emails and phone calls are civil and respectful and do not engage in the kind of name-calling or abusive behavior.
About GLAADThe Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is dedicated to promoting and ensuring fair, accurate and inclusive representation of people and events in the media as a means of eliminating homophobia and discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation. For more information, please visit www.glaad.org.
About GLAADThe Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is dedicated to promoting and ensuring fair, accurate and inclusive representation of people and events in the media as a means of eliminating homophobia and discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation. For more information, please visit
http://www.glaad.org/.
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Update June 4 2009
GLAAD Blog "KRXQ Radio Hosts Rob and Arnie Sweep Anti-Trans Namecalling Under the Rug"
"KRXQ Radio Hosts Rob and Arnie Sweep Anti-Trans Namecalling Under the Rug"Huffington PostUPDATE: Snapple, Sonic & Chipotle Pull Advertising From KRXQUPDATE: Carl’s Jr.®, Hardee’s®, Green Burrito® and Red Burrito® restaurants pull sponsorship from KEXQ.
email I received on June 5, 2009;
Dear Concerned Reader,Thank you for your email. We have pulled all of our ads from KXRQ. Wedid this as soon as the matter was brought to our attention. We appreciate your concern and thank you for contacting CKE Restaurantson this matter.
Regards,CKE, Public Relations
Guest Response Line: (877) 799-7827
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From the CKE web page
http://www.ckr.com/about.htmlCKE Restaurants, Inc. (CKE), through its subsidiaries, franchisees and licensees, operates some of the most popular U.S. regional brands in quick-service and fast-casual dining, including the Carl’s Jr.®, Hardee’s®, Green Burrito® and Red Burrito® restaurant brands. The CKE system includes more than 3,000 locations in 43 states and in 13 countries. CKE is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “CKR” and is headquartered in Carpinteria, California.
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Wells Fargo email received on June 5 2009
Thank you for your message. We appreciate your feedback and take such matters seriously.
We are strongly committed to equality for all and we do not tolerate discrimination. When we learned of the inappropriate comments made during the May 28th KXRQ broadcast we immediately removed our logo from the radio station's Web site.
Wells Fargo was not an advertiser on the May 28 broadcast, is not currently advertising with KXRQ, and has not done so for more than a year.
We're proud of our commitment of supporting many organizations that serve our diverse communities - which is consistent with our company values.
We very much appreciate your comments.
Diversity is at the core of Wells Fargo's vision and values and Wells Fargo is honored to be on DiversityInc Magazine's Top 50 list for 2009.
Thank you for taking the time to bring this matter to our attention.
Julie Campbell
Wells Fargo Communications
