Thursday, January 27, 2005

"So now you’re screwed. It’s the tsunami . . ."

“So now you’re screwed. It’s the tsunami,
You better run and kiss your a** away. Go find your mommy.
I just saw her float by, a tree went through her head.
And now your children will be sold into child slavery.”

These are the lyrics aired by a popular New York radio station Hot 97. The racist song mocks the tsunami tragedy and has lines like, “You can hear God laughing, Swim you bitches swim.”

The song was sung to the tune of the 1985 hit "We Are The World."

The song was played for four days by Miss Jones one of the RJs. As criticism for the song started coming in, co-host Todd Lyn, said, “I’m going to start shooting Asians.”

According to Mid-day's report, as protests increased, Miss Jones said she’d play the song once more just to show that protesters can’t dictate what goes on the air.

When the criticism grew louder and calls for firing the show's staff increased, Miss Jones said on air (presently posted on the Hot 97 website):
"I apologize to all who have been offended by my poor decision to go along with playing that insulting (to say the least) Tsunami song. I should have known better and I didn't. So I'm sorry and hopefully we can move forward from this, or I can move forward from this being a better hostess, because I am better than that, and I know better than that -- and you deserve better radio than that."

Miss Jones and the rest of the show’s seven-person staff agreed to contribute one-week’s pay to tsunami relief efforts. None of the staff was fired.

Racism in USA seems to have reached a new low. This report follows earlier reports of American callers showering call centre workers in the India with abusive and racist phone calls.

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