For years, John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou, hosts of "The John and Ken Show," have terrorized Los Angeles’ communities, creating an atmosphere of hate, intolerance and legitimizing violence and discrimination against LGBT and communities of color.
On September 1st, 2011, John and Ken began one of their usual rants about undocumented immigrants and the California DREAM Act. While John and Ken have a history of demonizing Latinos as they pretend to stick to the issues, their September 1st rant went too far. They took it upon themselves to target one immigrant rights activist in particular, Jorge-Mario Cabrera of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA). Instead of taking issue with Jorge-Mario's politics, the duo provided Mr. Cabrera’s office and personal cell phone numbers and encouraged their listeners to call and harass him. Mr. Cabrera proceeded to receive over 500 abusive and threatening calls. Many of the callers repeated John and Ken’s exact words, and then wished death upon Mr. Cabrera and/or threatened his life and his physical safety. And indeed, many callers directly referenced John and Ken in their nasty messages.
The National Hispanic Media Coalition, the National Latino Media Council, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, The Mexican American Opportunity Foundation, the Central American Resources Center, and others attended the meeting. As members of the Los Angeles community, these groups will demanded that KFI AM 640 remove John and Ken from the air.
Latino and other civil rights groups stepped up their efforts this week to knock the “John and Ken Show” off the air at KFI radio. Along with a public picket line outside KFI studios in Burbank, the groups have been pressuring advertisers to withdraw from the controversial radio talk show. Several dozen protesters marched outside KFI’s offices shouting “Stop the hate!” Alex Nogales (pictured), president and CEO of the National Hispanic Media Coalition, claimed ongoing protests had convinced Vons, Ralphs, Verizon FIOS and AT&T Wireless to withdraw their commercials from the show. The rights groups accused the “John and Ken Show” of targeting an immigration rights activist, Jorge-Mario Cabrera, during a rant attacking the California Dream Act. They gave out the office and personal phone numbers of Cabrera and encouraged their listeners to call him. Cabrera had included the phone numbers as contact information in a press release. Cabrera allegedly received more than 430 abusive and threatening phone calls with many of them threatening his and his family’s health and lives. Many smaller advertisers have also pulled their advertising from the show, but they are afraid they will subject to a backlash from John and Ken, according to Nogales. Clear Channel, which owns KFI, has refused to deal with Nogales because of his demand that John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou be fired. KFI officials defended the program, releasing a written statement which said, "expressing your opinion is not a firing offense." "KFI stands behind John and Ken and their right to speak their minds – opinions shared, incidentally, by over a million California listeners each week and protected by the 1st Amendment." KFI said it has met with Latino groups to try to resolve the issue, but refused to meet with Nogales’ organization over the demand that John and Ken be ousted. Nogales said his organization is now looking into possible legal options including seeing whether it has a case that can be filed with the Federal Communications Commission. The National Hispanic Media Coalition claimed its efforts to oust the radio show has the endorsement of more than 30 other organizations including America’s Voice, the Asian American Justice Center, Communications Workers of America, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and the Mexican American Political Association (MAPA). By Yvonne Beltzer (NBC Los Angeles)
Home Depot drops their advertisement from "The John and Ken Show"
During a visit on October 27 to the location of the Occupy Los Angeles protest, the hosts said that Native Americans should "probably [have been] better warriors."
General Motors removes their advertisement from "The John and Ken Show."
Albertsons (Supervalu) removes their advertisement from "The John and Ken Show"
AT&T Wireless removes their advertisement from "The John and Ken Show"
A ground-breaking study was released by the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center and the National Hispanic Media Coalition aiming to quantify hate speech on commercial talk radio. On November 8 the study was released with a panel discussion between UCLA and Cal State LA professors on the findings followed by a press conference.
AllState Insurance removes their advertisement from "The John and Ken Show"
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. removes sponsorship from "The John and Ken Show."
Walgreens Co. removes sponsorphip from "The John and Ken Show"
Vons removes sponsorship from "The John and Ken Show"
FARREN: I don't watch [awards shows] because every time I do, I just want to feed them a burger, every actress I see. I just want to feed them, they look so emaciated. KOBYLT: I know they look so--that's not attractive. CHIAMPOU: But that's the game though. They have to be more emaciated than the other famous actress. FARREN: Yeah, and this is the time of year. KOBYLT: That's right. And it's because-- CHIAMPOU: They get jealous and see photos of someone thinner than them. KOBYLT: Gay guys control the fashion industry and the casting industry and the whole Hollywood look. And gays like bodies that remind them of a 14 year old-boy. Guys like curves. Guys like curves. Absolutely, positively. It's biological, because a woman with curves looks like she can bear your children successfully and that's biologically what a man is looking for. So sexually a guy is much more turned on by a woman with curves than these 14 year old-boy stick figures. And that's how I know for sure, I don't need to do any research or any proof that it's gay guys who control the entire casting industry.
Toys"R"Us pulls their advertisement from "The John and Ken Show"
Guess?, Inc. removes their advertisement from "The John and Ken Show."
KOBYLT: I don't think anyone can have an attorney in small claims court, I went there once years ago -- KEN CHIAMPOU (cohost): It's like The People's Court, right? KOBYLT: Yeah, exactly. It's your -- it's your argument against there's -- CHIAMPOU: You against them, and the guy listens and he picks a side. [...] KOBYLT: Because we went to small claims for that Korean painter, remember that guy? CHIAMPOU: I forgot. KOBYLT: Gave us the -- CHIAMPOU: And he didn't show up, right? KOBYLT: He didn't show up, so we won a default judgment. CHIAMPOU: And did you get the money? That's the key question. KOBYLT: I think we got it off his bond, yeah. I think he actually had a state bond, and we got the money off of that. FARREN: And the fact that he was Korean is relevant because? KOBYLT: Oh, no, it is relevant, because -- CHIAMPOU: Good question, lawyer Shannon. KOBYLT: Because there's -- because there's a lot of, like, Korean painter scam guys. There are certain cultures that -- CHIAMPOU: That is painting with a brush. Oh, here comes certain cultures. KOBYLT: No, there's certain cultures that become involved in certain lines of work, and they bring their -- CHIAMPOU: And the word spreads that they can rip people off, like you. KOBYLT: That's exactly right. CHIAMPOU: The dumb Polish guy on the West Side. KOBYLT: That's exactly right. Because they were charging way less money than an American painter, and my wife -- my wife went for the cheap bid, which we have never done again, because this is going back about 15 years. And, yeah, it really is -- they just invite all of their nephews and their brothers-in-law, and lets form a paint company, and let's do the quick squirt, squirt, squirt on the wall and disappear.
CHIAMPOU: Stop having kids if you are low income. Really? Half the kids born--come on. I don't care who you are, why can't you make a decision better than that. [...] KOBYLT: Why am I responsible for everybody's bad decision? Why do I have to invest in people when their parents don't seem to care? When the parents can't carefully plan a family. I mean really, how hard is it to slip on a condom? CHIAMPOU: Well eventually that burdens just becomes too great, if it already isn't. KOBYLT: It is--It's already too great. That's why we are bankrupt. We've got to many poor people. It's clear. We've got almost a third of the nation's welfare cases, just in this one state. A third. [...] KOBYLT: And you know, you don't seem to get a benefit from it either. These kids are largely dropping out of school. I mean if you look at LA the dropout rates are 60 percent. So we poor in all this medical care, food stamps, all these welfare benefits, then free education, and it goes on for 15 years , and then somewhere in the middle of high school they drop out and they go take a crap job, or not, and then--What did we put that money in for? What did we invest in? [...] KOBYLT: This is like Solyndra. All these kids are little Solyndrites. CHIAMPOU: Yeah, they want our half a billion dollars. KOBYLT: They take the money, and it's billions every year, and we get nothing out of it-- CHIAMPOU: In this case it's a $7 billion tax increase KOBYLT: And they keep selling the same damn thing that they have been selling us for 50 years. It doesn't go anywhere. You don't get a benefit from investing in kids when they come from families who don't give a crap. And that's really the core of this. A lot of the families don't care. They just don't care. So what am I investing in their kids for? Or investing in them. I'm not interested. I don't have to be forced to pay money for this. It doesn't work.
AllState Insurance pulls their advertisement from KFI AM 640
Verizon pulls their advertisement from KFI AM 640
State Farm Insurance drops advertisement from KFI AM 640
CUENTAME'S Alerta Video: Interview with Robert J. Kang (Korean American Bar Association of So Cal) and Alex Nogales (National Hispanic Media Coalition)
John Kobylt: "At some point you're just sick of it all and so is everybody else in the industry, all her friends and hangers on, everybody who knew had to deal with her, it's like, 'ah, Jesus, here comes the crack ho again, what's she gonna do; oh look, she is doing handstands."
Sam Rubin gives his take on John & Ken suspension following comments about Whitney Houston.
"Suspension For John And Ken Is Not Enough; Their Hate Speech Needs To Be Taken Off The Air" By Nancy Meza (Huffington Post Latino Voices)
The controversial hosts of Los Angeles-area radio program The John & Ken Show have been back on the air for more than two weeks following their suspension for inflammatory comments about late singer Whitney Houston, but there is still no sign of them on L.A.'s KTLA-TV. The National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC) said Monday that KTLA has not aired its daily "Driving it Home with John and Ken" segment since John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou -- hosts of KFI-AM's The John & Ken Show -- returned from being suspended by KFI after calling Whitney Houston a "crack ho" and wondering why her death "took this long." Click below for the entire press release.
NHMC Applauds Los Angeles City Council’s Passage of Resolution Against Hate Speech.
How A Corporate Conglomerate Has Grown Immune to Market Forces.
Southern California Honda Dealers Association Drops "The John and Ken Show."
Cuentame's list of 16,000 petition signatures opposing "The John and Ken Show" was sent to Clear Channel’s Board of Directors on the eve of their annual shareholder's meeting.
Congreso Delegates Agree To Boycott Companies That Advertise On Hateful Media Programming
Toyota removes sponsorphip from "The John and Ken Show"
Call and Tweet AIS Insurance CEO Mark Ribisi (562) 345-6102 @AISinsurance. Tell him to stop advertising on "The John & Ken Show"
Call and Tweet (@Citrix) CEO Mark Templeton (954) 267-2970. Tell him to stop advertising on "The John & Ken Show"
Time Warner Cable removes ads from "The John and Ken Show"
Clear Channel Radio - A Risky Investment for Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners
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