To: C Kahn who wrote (13429 ) 8/25/1999 9:53:00 PM From: Les H Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 13994
Disney under fire for "Black Hoe" radio promo LOS ANGELES, Aug 25 (Reuters) - Black community leaders on Wednesday called for a boycott of Walt Disney Co. products saying that a company radio station defamed blacks with a promotion for gardening products it called ``black hoes' -- a deliberate double entendre for black whores. Disney (NYSE:DIS - news), the U.S. bastion of family entertainment, issued a written apology for the ``inappropriate and unacceptable' promotion on the Los Angeles KLOS-FM radio station, owned by Disney's ABC unit, which gave away dark plastic gardening tools as prizes to listeners and advertisers. Steven Bornstein, head of the ABC division which runs KLOS-FM, said those responsible for the promotion had been disciplined and had undergone diversity training. He also apologized for any offense the promotion may have caused. But the local chapter of Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) said Wednesday the apology was too little, too late. It said it was organizing pickets at Disney offices and stores in Los Angeles starting on Thursday. ``There should be zero tolerance for this type of hatemongering and racial slander. We are not going to stand for it,' said CORE vice chairwoman Sandra Moore. ``We know of cases where young white males were riding around in their cars hollering at black women 'We just won a black hoe. Get in the car,' Moore said, adding that other black activist groups were supporting the protest. The promotion ran on a KLOS-FM talk show for six weeks last year until a black woman employee at the radio station complained and it was discontinued. ABC said there no complaints from listeners at the time. Moore called for the two disc jockeys involved in the promotion -- Mark Thompson and Brian Phelps -- to undergo diversity training organized by black groups rather than in-house courses. Thompson and Phelps, whose show is a key attraction at KLOS-FM, are currently on vacation. Their show has continued and ABC did not specify what disciplinary action had been taken against them.