Hosts of a Sacramento-based radio show
apologized Thursday for making offensive comments about transgender
people.
“I hurt people,” Arnie States told
listeners. “And that wasn't my goal.”
That apology came after gay rights
groups decried a May 28 broadcast of the Rob, Arnie & Dawn in
the Morning radio show, which airs on KRXQ in Sacramento, where
hosts Arnie States and Rob Williams called transgender people
“freaks” and “weirdos” during a segment devoted to
transgender children.
“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 told listeners. “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 Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against
Defamation (GLAAD) demanded an apology, called the comments “cruel,
dehumanizing and defamatory,” and said they promoted “child
abuse.”
The apology issued on air Thursday
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.”
The station said it changed its mind
after hearing from hundreds of listeners which mostly sided with
GLAAD.
But a mass exodus of major advertisers
was already underway when the station announced plans to apologize.
According to a GLAAD
blog post, eleven major advertisers – including fast food giant
McDonald's and Bank of America – pulled out of the show.
The program went off the air for
several days before returning Thursday with a show devoted to the
topic and featured transgender advocate and Pam's House Blend
contributor Autumn Sandeen and Executive Director of TransYouth
Family Allies Kim Pearson.
“Our audience made it clear that we
had actually made it seem as though we endorse or allow or encourage
the harming and abuse of children, the bullying and vilifying of
those who are different, and singling out of transgenders for harm,”
Williams said.
“I want you to very clearly
understand that I proudly and fully apologize for those comments
completely,” he added.
“I didn't realize that my words could
really affect and hurt as bad and as negatively as they did,”
States said. “I hurt people. And that wasn't my goal. I stupidly
tried to think that I was entertaining people by the things that I
said and I hurt people in the process.”
“I think this is the way we make
change – and we don't mean as individuals, but as a community,”
Sandeen said after the program. “Humanity won the day. I think
that's what worked – we all became humans in the same room instead
of stereotypes.”
The Rob, Arnie & Dawn show
is owned by co-host Rob Williams.