RW Boston Radio Show Host Thrown Off The Air - Called Candidate "Fat Lesbian"

[matcom]

<snip>

Radio talk show host John DePetro was pulled from the air after he made a derogatory remark yesterday about the sexuality and the weight of Green-Rainbow party gubernatorial candidate Grace Ross.

"This corporation has zero tolerance for this type of nonsense," George Regan, spokesman for the station, said last night. "It will not be tolerated. We are now in the process of an investigation. Mr. DePetro will not be heard on the airwaves of WRKO-AM tomorrow morning."

Regan said that Entercom Communications, the owner of WRKO, will have a further statement today.

Regan said that DePetro apologized on the air yesterday after making the remark about Ross, but that WRKO executives were not satisfied. DePetro was suspended for two days in July for using a homosexual slur on his show to describe Matthew J . Amorello, who was chairman of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority at the time.

It was unclear last night what DePetro said on the air, other than a description of the candidate's sexuality and weight. Regan refused to provide a tape of the show. DePetro did not return phone calls seeking comment.

For her part, Ross laughed when she heard about DePetro's remark. "That's my honest response," she said, chuckling. "First of all, this is not news to folks that I'm a lesbian. It's on my website. Big, fat? I guess that's supposed to be his way of saying he doesn't like somebody. The real issue here is that we have a whole subculture of right-wing talk show hosts who think they're more important than they are."

She said that DePetro is free to question her views and proposals, but that "this kind of behavior is wildly inappropriate."

Asked whether she thought DePetro should be fired, Ross said, "I don't think I should say who gets fired or doesn't from a job I have no legal responsibility for. But what I do feel is that the quality of public discourse in this campaign is in the mud pit, rolling around. I would hope that WRKO recognizes the power of the airwaves and doesn't want to contribute to what is essentially negative campaigning."

After Imette St. Guillen was slain in New York City in February, DePetro said the 24-year-old college student from Boston was "asking for trouble" by being alone in a bar at 4 a.m. The comment outraged St. Guillen's mother and sister and made headlines, but WRKO did not punish the host.

In July, DePetro, who calls himself The Independent Man, used a slur to describe Amorello. After making the comment, DePetro said: "I don't mean gay; I mean like sissy boy."

The talk show host, who has been on the air at WRKO-AM for three years, made the remarks while talking about Amorello's decision to bring his wife, Charlotte, and spokeswoman Mariellen Burns to the funeral of Milena Del Valle, the Jamaica Plain woman who was killed when the Big Dig ceiling panels collapsed.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/11/03/talk_host_gets_snidely_personal_then_gets_hook?mode=PF

[meegbear]

1. Here's a sample of his style from the Boston Phoenix ...

DePetro seems poised to follow Miller’s lead, since he gets Mihos on the air just after nine. But DePetro — a/k/a "The Independent Man" — is notably less combative with Mihos than Miller was, maybe because he’s hot for Mihos’s 25-year-old daughter, Ashley. "Hey, uh, Christy, I certainly look forward to seeing Ashley Mihos," DePetro says as the interview wraps up. When Mihos conveys Ashley’s greetings, DePetro shouts to his producer, "You hear that! Ashley says hello!" (DePetro’s Web site features several photos of Ashley.)

Instead, DePetro focuses on a new Healey ad that features a rapist stalking a woman through an empty parking garage, and quotes Patrick calling convicted rapist Ben LaGuer "eloquent" and "thoughtful." Sex and violence have been good for DePetro’s career: when he argued that Imette St. Guillen paved the way for her own rape and murder last February by staying out late, alone and drunk, in New York City, DePetro’s national profile rose for a week or two. Now, DePetro can’t heap enough praise on Healey’s new spot, calling it "absolutely awesome," "so powerful," "maybe the most powerful commercial I’ve seen," "very dramatic," "a brilliant political ad," a "very powerful commercial," "very gripping," "very dramatic," "a woman’s worst nightmare," and "very effective."

That said, he also wants to know what the ladies think. The first female caller, Linda from Weymouth, sounds like she’ll bolster DePetro’s case; when she watched the ad at home yesterday, Linda says, her heart beat faster and she "just felt really vulnerable." But then there’s a twist: "I think honestly that is exploiting the vulnerability of women in a way men can’t understand," she continues. "And you almost resent her more for doing this. I think the subliminal message of the ad is, you vote for Deval Patrick and you’re going to be raped."

This isn’t what DePetro wants to hear. "What is your reaction to Deval’s describing a convicted rapist as someone who’s thoughtful and eloquent?" he demands. "This is my reaction," she begins. "I took it in its full context —" "So that doesn’t bother you?!?" DePetro talks over Linda, and then cuts her off altogether so he can dismiss her points without disagreement.

Several women who say they’ve been victims of violence call during the duration of the show. When they agree with DePetro, he’s kind and solicitous; when they disagree, he’s harsh and dismissive. One says she was molested by her father but could still say nice things about him. "You’re sick!" DePetro shouts.

Another, who says she works at a rape crisis center, complains that Healey’s ad ignores the fact that most rapes aren’t perpetrated by strangers. "All rapes are violent and all rapes are brutal," she adds. "I disagree," DePetro says, but doesn’t elaborate.

http://www.thephoenix.com/article_ektid26029.aspx

[trof]

2. Well, I was hoping it was Howie Carr, but I was right about the station.

Good old 'RKO.
I remember when they used to be pretty liberal.

[Radio_Lady]

3. Yep. Very liberal. I did a couple of shows with Paul Benzaquin there.

I haven't heard from him in years. Wonder if he's still with us -- he had heart problems in the 1990s.

[trof]

4. I remember when Gene Burns 'came out'.

Or was outed. I forget which.
I think Gene was pretty much a Libertarian.
I also remember Paul Benzaquin.
And Jerry Williams.
He was fairly liberal on some issues, but he still pissed me off once in a while.
Hated southerners. I was a transplanted southerner living in southern NH at the time.