Prominent English broadcaster fired for tsunami joke
Associated Press
LONDON (AP) - A prominent English sports commentator was fired Tuesday for making a joke about the tsunami disaster.
Marsh lost his hair at a charity event, but lost even more after his tsunami joke left no one laughing.
Former English soccer player Rodney Marsh made the comment on a Monday night phone-in program on Sky Sports. A Sky spokesman said Marsh apologized on the air for the comments, which were edited when the program was retransmitted.
"During the live nighttime phone-in, Rodney made comments that were offensive and inexcusable," Sky said in a statement. "These remarks should never have been made and Sky would like to offer its apologies to those who were offended."
In his comments, Marsh jokingly said Real Madrid midfielder David Beckham had turned down a transfer to the English club Newcastle after hearing of trouble with the "Toon Army in Asia."
Supporters of Newcastle are called the "Toon Army," which sounds similar to the word "tsunami."
A former striker for Queens Park Rangers, Manchester City and Fulham, Marsh was a regular sports commentator with Sky, Britain's satellite broadcaster.
Marsh lost his hair at a charity event, but lost even more after his tsunami joke left no one laughing. (Shaun Botterill / GettyImages)
Of course thats just my opinion....I could be wrong. (Dennis Miller)
"You might be the toughest little whacker. . .but in my world, you're about as worrisome as a cloudy day." (Dutch Dooley)
That joke is nothing compared to the offensive song that was played on a New York radio station called Hot 97
here are some of the lyrics:
..All at once you could hear the screaming ****** and no one was safe from the wave there were africans drowning, little chinamen swept away you could hear god laughing, "swim you ***** swim"
So now you're screwed, it's the Tsunami
you better run or kiss your ass away, go find your mommy
I just saw her float by, a tree went through her head
and now the children will be sold to child slavery...
In his comments, Marsh jokingly said Real Madrid midfielder David Beckham had turned down a transfer to the English club Newcastle after hearing of trouble with the "Toon Army in Asia."
how in the hell could anyone find that offensive?
quote:
Marsh lost his hair at a charity event, but lost even more after his tsunami joke left no one laughing.
In his comments, Marsh jokingly said Real Madrid midfielder David Beckham had turned down a transfer to the English club Newcastle after hearing of trouble with the "Toon Army in Asia."
That's just insulting David Beckham, saying he's stupid. That's not offensive to the Tsunami victims. We didn't get offended about that guy selling something on e-bay and donating the proceeds to the SOOOnami.
Some more info on the New York Radio Station song and stuff:
quote:
Miss Jones and the Tsunami Song
If you haven't already heard about Miss Jones and the infamous Tsunami Song I'll try to get you updated. So Miss Jones runs a popular morning show in New York on Hot 97 and for the past week has been playing a parody song poking fun at the Tsunami disaster which uses such wonderfully fun words as "chink" and "Chinamen." While the song is bad enough, it's really the pre-song argument between her and her Asian co-host Miss Info that reveals the extent of Miss Jones' ugliness. I wasn't even going to post this at first but after seeing Miss Jones and hearing the audio, I've decided I wouldn't feel right with myself unless I helped try to get her fired.
Asian rapper Jin has released a response to The Tsunami Song and, combined with the effective wrath of the entire internet, has gotten Miss Jones off the air indefinitely. Details are sketchy, but E-Bro took over for Miss Jones this morning explaining the situation and even taking an interview with Jin himself. I've provided links to all the audio but they're sure to go down soon so get them while you can.
Hot 97's Miss Jones Assured Herself Of A Place In Hell
Not anymore. *****. Or at least for now. Miss Jones has been suspended.
The "Tsunami Song" is probably one of the most offensive pieces of trash that I've ever heard in my life.
The piece used racial slurs to describe people swept away in the disaster, made jokes about child slavery and people watching their mothers die.
"You can hear God laughing, 'Swim you ******* swim,' " was one line in the song, sung by staff of the show to the melody of the 1985 famine relief song "We Are the World." Gothamist has transcribed the lyrics, or if you want to be sickened, click here to here the "song" as well as Miss Jones defending the "song," and Miss Info having at least an iota of common sense.
HOT 97 issued a statement on the airing of the "Tsunami Parody Song" (how many things are wrong with that right there):
HOT 97 regrets the airing of material that made light of a serious and tragic event. We apologize to our listeners and anyone who was offended.
HOT97 takes pride in its community involvement and in the last few weeks has joined with broadcasters nationwide to raise money for victims of the Tsunami. Our relief effort will result in a substantial cash donation.
As an additional sign of HOT 97’s commitment to the cause, Miss Jones in the Morning, along with her entire staff, have agreed to contribute one week’s pay to Tsunami Relief efforts.
If you wish to make a further comment, you can send an e-mail to the program director programdirector@hot97.com or you can write to WQHT, 395 Hudson Street, 7th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10014.
The incident is not the first time HOT 97 has been accused of racism and poor taste. The station made headlines when deejay Star, now at another radio station, called Jennifer Lopez a "rice-and-bean eater" and satirized the plane crash that killed R&B singer Aaliyah in 2001.
hip hop music dot com has been following this story ferociously. Sponsors of the morning show, Sprint and McDonald's are obviously not happy. The site has also posted the contact info for HOT 97 to complain (more email addresses here):
NOTE: If you use the word "tsunami" in your email it will probably get filtered now, and not read. So try to leave that word out..
01-25-2005 11:54 PM
