A Sacramento-based conservative radio
talk show has agreed to apologize over transgender slurs made on its
morning show.
Radio station KRXQ announced Monday
that morning hosts Rob Williams and Arnie States would apologize for
comments offered during a segment on transgender children that the
gay rights group Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
(GLAAD) called “cruel, dehumanizing and defamatory.” They also
said the program would remain off the air until June 11.
GLAAD demanded an apology over comments
aired during the May 28 broadcast of the Rob, Arnie & Dawn in
the Morning radio show, which it said promoted “child abuse.”
“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,” States said. “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.”
“[T]hey are freaks,” Williams said.
“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.”
“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,'” States said. And about eight minutes later added,
“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.”
The announcement of a forthcoming on
air apology didn't come easily, however. The radio station
originally stood by the show's content. And in a follow up show,
States defended his comments, called the hubbub that followed “a
joke,” and insisted he never advocated child abuse: “I didn't do
anything wrong.”
But broadcasters reconsidered after
major advertisers began fleeing. According to a GLAAD
blog post, eleven major advertisers have fled the show including
Chipotle Mexican Grill, Snapple, SONIC Restaurants, Bank of America,
Verizon, CKE Restaurants, Well Fargo, Nissan North America, AT&T,
Guitar Center and McDonald's.
In a letter posted online, co-host
Williams, who owns the show, said the show had “failed on almost
every level.”
“We presented our opinions on a very
sensitive subject in a hateful, childish and crude fashion; and then,
given the opportunity to retract those remarks, we defended them.”
“The response has been overwhelming,”
Williams said. “None of you said that we couldn't have opinions,
yet so many of you said that the way we gave them crossed the line.”