Moar Rantseseses

[wook77]

As a follow-up to this set of letters -

Dear Law Enforcement, Radio Decency People, Radio personalities and, specifically, the management at KRXQ,

Just so I understand how this works, a white supremecist shock jock says violent things directed at politicians and he gets criminal charges but Rob and Arnie say violent things directed at transgendered/gender-questioning children, and it's just lulz? They're shock jocks and equal opportunity offenders?

Huh. I still don't get it.

In conclusion, FUCK YOU.
me

Dear Snapple, Sonic and Chipotle (now with added Nissan, AT&T, Verizona, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and McDonalds,

Thanks for being awesome. I had Chipotle at lunch today, bought some Diet Dr. Pepper at Circle K on the way back and am planning on Sonic for lunch tomorrow. I appreciate your willingness to pull your advertising from a popular radio program in light of such hate speech. It takes a lot to make such a stand in this tough market so I appreciate your willingness to do so.

<3,
me


UPDATED WITH NEW ADVERTISERS!

CARLS'S JR. (CKE RESTAURANTS): (Hardee's on the East Coast)
Removed due to response. See ETA 2!

HOME DEPOT
public_relations@homedepot.com

TOBACCO REPUBLIC:
trcigar@aol.com

FLEX YOUR POWER
enewswire@fypower.org Editor
info@fypower.org

NISSAN:
Darryl Harrison - Media
Removed due to response. See ETA 4

BANK OF AMERICA:
Removed due to rapid response. See below!

VERIZON:
Removed due to response. See ETA 3!

McDONALDS:
Removed due to response. See ETA 5

WELLS FARGO:
Removed due to response. Seems the KRXQ website didn't keep their list of corporate advertisers current. I'm sure you're quite shocked, too. See ETA 3

GRIFFIN & REED EYECARE:
info@LASIKworld.com

PRO CITY MORTGAGE:
procity@procitymortgage.com

SUPERVALU INC. (Albertson's)
Investors and Financial Media:
David Oliver, 952-828-4540
david.m.oliver@supervalu.com
or
Steve Bloomquist, 952-828-4144
steve.j.bloomquist@supervalu.com

NEW:
Cost U Less Insurance
online contact form
There are three offices in Sacramento:

Sacramento
2870 Fulton Avenue
(916) 485-5427
Sacramento
7213 Florin Mall Drive Suite A
(916) 427-1222
Sacramento
6315 Mack Road
(916) 689-1414

If someone gets an email address, please let me know.

Cache Creek Casino
888.77.cache
They do not have an email address on record. However, in looking at linkedin, I found the following:
Mike Leonard, VP of Marketing so I'm adding him. Unfortunately, you have to take the step of going to linkedin to get to email him. If someone gets his email address, I will add it to the list.
>

As always, no need to ask permission to link to this or repost the list of advertisers for your own usage on spreading the word.



Dear advertiser on the Rob, Arnie and Dawn Show on KXRQ Sacramento/Reno,

I'm not certain that you are aware that your brand is now associated with a group of people that feel that it is completely acceptable to incite violence towards at-risk children. The May 28th segment of the Rob, Arnie and Dawn Show on KXRQ Sacramento/Reno contained a half an hour diatribe against children already experiencing more than enough anguish. Some of the offensive quotations include:

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. 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.

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. And they end up in therapy.

Did you know that 9 out of 10 transgender/gender questioning children will face abuse (whether physical, mental or verbal)? Were you aware that, in 2008 alone, that "society beat down" transgendered people by murdering 21 people simply because they were trangendered? Society threatens to beat down transgendered people by a 1 in 12 chance of being murdered. That is society's reaction and this sort of hate speech not only condones it, it encourages this level of extreme violence.

In their follow-up to the diatribe, Arnie and Rob made no apology for their hate speech. Instead, they attempted to sweep it under the rug and portray their words as "funny" while portraying those that are rightfully upset at such hate speech as having no sense of humor.

Your brand, at least in my mind, is now tied to this sort of vitriolic diatribe directed towards children due to your continued advertising on this station.

I respectfully ask, at this time, that you remove all advertising from this station and follow in the footsteps of such companies as Snapple, Chipotle and Sonic. These three companies have already shown their willingness to protect at-risk youth and stand up against violence and hate speech.

I understand that this is a tough economy and that pulling your advertising from such a successful radio station can harm your bottom line. But you must understand that I have to choose where to spend my money. I refuse to spend it somewhere that thinks vitriolic diatribes against at-risk children are acceptable.

I appreciate your time,
[wook]

Dear Flist,

You know, we write a ton of kinks. Genderbend is all over quite a few fandoms. Can we all please take a few minutes to send a few emails to these advertisers?

I bcc'd each of them and then wrote the above letter. You are more than welcome to c/p the letter and the bcc distribution list.

Here:

procity@procitymortgage.com, info@LASIKworld.com, heidi.barker@us.mcd.com, theresa.riley@us.mcd.com, enewswire@fypower.org, info@fypower.org, trcigar@aol.com, public_relations@homedepot.com, david.m.oliver@supervalu.com, steve.j.bloomquist@supervalu.com, Dawn.fones.cv9s@statefarm.com, dbouffard@jewels.com, dale@sleeptrain.com, kschopp@purina.com, Keoni.Wagner@hawaiianair.com, pdugan@mcneilwilson.com, mediarelations@pepboys.com

Send an email and let people know that this sort of hate speech isn't allowed. Please?

<3,
me

ETA: HOMG GUYS! Bank of America just pulled their advertising! We're doing it! I'm now in tears of happiness. You guys! This is AWESOME.
In response to your inquiry, I would like to express our thoughts to you regarding Bank of America’s decision to discontinue advertising on the station and show in question.

Bank of America is proud to be a leader in supporting diversity and continues to be widely recognized for our progressive workplace practices and initiatives to promote inclusion. This commitment to equality and diversity informs every aspect of our enterprise, including our approach to advertising. As a result, we adhere to a set of media buying guidelines for syndicated programming and for local stations that promote inclusion and help our company reach a broad range of diverse customers.

Bank of America prides itself on fostering a corporate culture that is inclusive of all the communities we serve. Our customers, clients and associates speak different languages; support different family structures and life situations; and have unique and personal financial requirements. In order to meet the diverse needs of our customers, we require a variety of products and services, marketing and a diverse workforce that demonstrate and reflect our awareness and appreciation of who our clients and customers are.

We hope the immediate actions that we have taken demonstrate our longstanding support of diversity, and we hope you inform members of your organization of the steps that we have taken to address your concerns.

Thank you for your inquiry and bringing this to our attention.

Joseph L. Goode, SVP
Global Media Relations
Bank of America

ETA2: Two things in this ETA. 1) looks like Albertson's Grocery store is not the Albertson's formerly listed as an advertiser (link). So, I'm removing them from the distribution list. ETA2.5: New Albertson's Contact information has been added to the distribution list.

Secondly - It looks like Carl's Jr/Hardee's has pulled their advertising from KXRQ. Folks. This ROCKS!

Dear Concerned Reader,

Thank you for your email. We have pulled all of our ads from KXRQ. We did this as soon as the matter was brought to our attention.

We appreciate your concern and thank you for contacting CKE Restaurants on this matter.

Regards,

CKE, Public Relations

ETA3: Verizon pulls advertising! w00t!

ETA4: Nissan and Wells Fargo are out as well. That's eight companies. Just a few more to go. And any new ones they find to replace the ones that have pulled out.

As a personal aside - keep the updates and the links coming but I'll be at work where I will have no ability to update this post. So any ETAs will come when I get back from my second job.

ETA5: McDonald's and AT&T are out Plus new contact information for Albertson's.

SUPERVALU INC.
Investors and Financial Media:
David Oliver, 952-828-4540
david.m.oliver@supervalu.com
or
Steve Bloomquist, 952-828-4144
steve.j.bloomquist@supervalu.com

I have edited these into the distribution list and also above with the contact information.

GLAAD has also asked That we continue to contact the station with our concerns. Let's remember to keep it polite and we'll get heard better. I'd rather they realize that intelligent people don't think this is acceptable. That it's not just a stark-raving mad (and I mean that in the pissed off sort of way) mob coming after them.

Contact Information
John Geary
Vice President & General Manager
KRXQ-FM
(916) 339-4209
jgeary@entercom.com

Arnie States
On Air Personality
KRXQ-FM
(916) 334-7777
rad@robarnieanddawn.com

Rob Williams
On Air Personality
KRXQ-FM
(916) 334-7777
rwilliams@entercom.com

BCC list for the show:

imfox@krxq.com, jgeary@entercom.com, kwong@entercom.com, dfield@entercom.com, jboyle@entercom.com, patmartin@krxq.com, jfield@entercom.com, sfisher@entercom.com, wkramer@entercom.com, nmccormack@entercom.com, bpasha@entercom.com

ETA6?: I've had a request for the text of my letter to the radio station. Below the cut is what I sent

Dear Sir or Madam,

Although I'm not certain that you'll even read this letter as I'm certain you're being inundated with letters regarding the recent transphobic statements issued by Rob and Arnie, I wanted to tell you why these comments have me so upset.

It's not just the "joking" incitement of violence towards children that already face a 9 out of 10 risk of being abused. It's not just the "joking" incitement of violence towards a group of people that face the chances of 1 in 12 transgendered people getting murdered versus the rest of us at 1 in 18,500. It's not just the fact that these jokes are not funny.

It's the violent enforcement of rigid gender roles for our children. Far too often, children are told "boys don't cry" and "girls cook, they don't play ball". Children are teased and tormented when they don't fit into these narrow roles.

Lawrence King was shot in his school for not fitting into the narrow gender roles perpetuated and violently endorsed by Rob and Arnie.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/147790/page/1

Carl Joseph Walker hung himself from a bannister in his house after the sort of teasing and "joking" your radio station endorsed and blew off. The sort of bullying and "teasing" you continue to support directly led to this young man hanging himself.
http://www.bvblackspin.com/2009/04/12/anti-gay-bullying-drives-11-year-old-to-suicide/

These are just two recent examples. The unfortunate thing is that in 2008 alone, 21 transgendered people were murdered because they were transgendered. Their only crime was being transgendered.

Words have power. Words from popular radio personalities have a lot more power than the teasing and tormenting (verbal torture, as some experts put it) than that of fellow students.

When you say these sorts of things, when you endorse this sort of action, when you make it into a joke, it demeans the daily struggle that all children (and adults) go through. Boys can like ballet and girls can like baseball. Neither one makes any of them gay or even gender questioning. When your radio stations reacts violently and negatively (whether with words or action), you are attempting to take us back into a world where women had no power and were chattel.

Your words contain so much misogyny that it's appalling. The fact is that the act of playacting is not and should never be anything that deserves such vitriolic statements.

I truly hope that you think about the words and the meaning behind the words. I hope you look at what you are condoning and endorsing because the sentiment and tacit endorsement of such violent reactions towards those that might not fit the rigid and narrow gender roles of the past can only lead to more Carl Joseph Walkers.

Respectfully,
[wook]

From the most recent update on the GLAADblog:

The pressure seems to have caused a stir at the radio station. Today at 5:28pm EST, we received an email from the General Manager promising a phone call this Monday with a possible resolution.

Me: Amazing what losing 10 corporate sponsors will do to a radio station. Suddenly they're not so funny, huh?

Also - when I wake in the morning, I will add a list of the people that have removed their advertising from this station so we can send off thank you letters, as well. I'll also respond to comments. Right now, though, I'm knackered after working 19 hours straight. I hope you all understand. Go forth and eat burritos and Sonic and Carl's Jr/Hardees. Keep your Verizon and your AT&T cell phones.

You guys are seriously the best thing ever.

ETA6: So I've had requests for a new distribution list.

The only new emails I've been able to find are for the Albertson's people. I will update this list, as well, if anyone can track down email addresses for the two new corporate sponsors/advertisers.

david.m.oliver@supervalu.com, steve.j.bloomquist@supervalu.com, Dawn.fones.cv9s@statefarm.com, dbouffard@jewels.com, dale@sleeptrain.com, kschopp@purina.com, Keoni.Wagner@hawaiianair.com, pdugan@mcneilwilson.com, mediarelations@pepboys.com

Updated! Thanks to stitchesandlace for finding all this for me!

Also - I've had a request for a list of whom to send thank you notes to. Below is the distribution list that I've put together (will be updated should anyone new be added):

corpcsf@wellsfargo.com, heidi.barker@us.mcd.com, Debra.Lewis@VerizonWireless.com, john.britton@att.com, joseph.l.goode@bankofamerica.com, Darryll.harrison@nissan-usa.com, pr@ckr.com, astrohm@barkleyus.com, mediarelations@chipotle.com

Please note that I cannot find an email address for Snapple. They do have a Contact Us form, however.

Finally (for this ETA) - Googlecache of the sponsors. Anyone finds an email address they'd like added to the distribution lists, let me know.

Red Bull - Still no working email address for them but I do now have a fax line (thanks morgandawn
RBNA Headquarters

1740 Stewart Street
90404 Santa Monica
+1 310 393-4647
+1 310 230-2361

Comments

[wook77.livejournal.com]

You're exactly right! We do have the right to say that we do not feel that this is acceptable speech. Thanks for pointing that out!

[czardeon.livejournal.com]

you do realize that if this show gets pulled off the air, the fifty or so people involved in its production will lose their ability to feed their families, right? you do also realize that you do not have the right to tell someone else what is and what isn't an "acceptable" use for free speech, right? i wrote up a post that i think sums up everything i feel about this issue. you should read it.

[wook77.livejournal.com]

Ahh, so freedom of speech only goes one way? Huh, I never knew that. So they can tell me that it's acceptable to beat a child with a shoe but I can't tell them that that isn't acceptable speech? Wow. I never knew that.

And if they're involved in the distribution of hate speech, I don't really care about their ability to feed their family. It's sort of how I feel about the extreme right wing hate speech places all over the place. If you're involved in the subjugation of people, you do not get the right to earn a living off of my dollars. It's a rather simple thing, isn't it?

Here's the other beauty of freedom of speech. You can write it. I don't have to read it.

[czardeon.livejournal.com]

my whole point is that freedom of speech does NOT go only one way. no, you can't tell someone that their use of free speech is unacceptable. read the constitution. everyone has the right to say whatever the want UNTIL they violate someone else's rights. you trying to get their livelihood taken away is a violation of their free speech. suppose someone doesn't like what you're saying here and tries to get you thrown in jail or tries to remove your ability to say it? it's the same thing you're doing. why is one ok and the other's not? why are YOUR rights more important than theirs? what you're advocating for here is fascism.

also, it's pretty telling of your character that you're so quick to jeapordize the livelihood of people who had nothing to do with the statements that were made. do you think the struggling sound technician for the show deserves to lose his job just because two ignorant fucks said some stupid shit? do his kids deserve to not have a father who can feed them?

take what has happened here and use it to educate people about the rights of transgendered individuals. using it to beat down free speech or risk the livelihood of people who had nothing to do with it doesn't accomplish anything but to continue a cycle of left-wing vs. right-wing bullshit.

[wook77.livejournal.com]

The beauty is that I do, in fact, get to say "your speech isn't appropriate". That's my point. We've been saying it for years. Call a woman a cunt? You get the right to say "nope, not appropriate". Yell fire in a crowded theatre? You get the right to say "nope, not appropriate". Threaten to beat a child with a shoe for not adhering to your narrow gender roles? You get the right to say "nope, not appropriate". See a cartoon that depicts Mohammed as a pimp? YOu get the right to say "nope, not appropriate". That's the beauty of freedom of speech, it does, in fact, get to go both ways.

I, personally, think that endangering a child's life is worthy of having someone's livelihood taken away. It happens to CPS workers all the time. I link about to a similar threat made by a radio DJ who found himself fired and brought up on criminal charges. Howard Stern made cracks about sex and he found himself fired for inappropriate speech.

I'm advocating the flow of free speech both ways. They get to say what they want, I get to say what I want. That's the most awesome bit of having that right. People can say that I'm wrong. You're doing it right now. I'm not claiming you're taking away my right to freedom of speech. I'm honoring your right to disagree with me.

I rather think that educating people is exactly what's going on here. The fact is, my letter to the radio station was very respectful and attempted to educate them as to exactly why they were wrong to say what they said. The only reason I reacted with the corporate advertisers and sponsors bit is when they responded with "I'm sorry you didn't get my joke" and showed no signs of realizing exactly what they were saying.

I don't see this as a left-wing vs right-wing bit. You'll notice no where in my post did I make mention that Rob, Arnie and Dawn are a rightwing show. What I did say is that I find the rightwing hate groups (and I'm thinking of Focus on the Family, Gerry Falwell and the ilk) are completely wrong and bigoted. I get the right to boycott what supports them and others get the right to support them.


Fascism? I lol at that, gotta admit. Srs lulz. Thanks.

[czardeon.livejournal.com]

yes, you can SAY someone else's speech is inappropriate. that's your right. but what you're doing here goes beyond that. you're trying to punish someone for saying something you disagree with. whether that incites "lulz" or not, it's fascism (but i'm glad you're mature enough to treat this issue seriously).

where have they endangered a child's life? because they spoke their opinion on the issue? if someone chooses to take the word of two ignorant rednecks that far, it's THEIR problem, not the radio jock's. it's just like all those parent groups who want to ban Eminem and Marilyn Manson because kids go out and do violent acts based on the lyrics. should we censor them too? should we censor EVERYTHING that could potentially lead to violence?

educating people and being malicious are two different things. one would our side on the issue would be the last to express malice or take away someone else's rights. while we're fighting for the rights of the gay and transgendered communities, we have to remember to do it with love and understand, not with malice for other people's rights.

you have every right to do what you're doing here and every right to say what you're saying. you have to realize though that advocating for the punishment of people who have committed no other crime than voicing an opinion we disagree with is FASCISM. i, for one, refuse to participate in any form of censorship. that's all i can really say on the issue. good luck in your efforts.

[wook77.livejournal.com]

When you start tossing about fascism, I have to admit that I lol. The next step is Godwin's.

Where have they endangered a child's life? Seriously? Teasing of this nature kills (http://abcnews.go.com/Health/MindMoodNews/story?id=7328091&page=1). Of course, let me guess, it's the fault of these kids that they committed suicide and if they had just had thicker skin, they'd be able to cope with the teasing. It's not the bully's fault, it's the victim's fault.

I don't listen to Eminem. Why? Because I find his misogynistic rants against women to be offensive. I choose to boycott those that support him. He has every right to say what he wants. I have every right to disagree and boycott.

When you are endorsing violence, especially against at-risk youth (a 9 out of 10 chance of facing violence), then yes, I think we should boycott. I do not think that we should ban. Please see my above statements where I say that they have every right to say what they want. I have every right to say that it is wrong.

Advocating violence against children is wrong and deserves to be called out. It leads to violence against children. This isn't the first time and I'm certain that it isn't the last time that they will say disgusting hurtful disgraceful things. This article (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-rowe/on-air-abuse-of-transgede_b_212121.html) contains some of their previous rants. They can say it, I can do my best to show them that the community at large isn't willing to listen to their hate.

In a world with no censorship, we would also allow hate speech towards blacks, hispanics, women, and a thousand other protected classes. You'd be all right with these men using the n word on the radio? You'd be all right with them advocating that blacks need to get back into the fields and women should get back into the kitchen and start birthing more babies? Because I'm not all right with that and, thankfully, neither is the community at large.

You have every right to believe that censorship is bad but I wonder if you truly believe that or if there are things that you would act out against.

GLAAD reached out to these bigots and attempted to educate them. Their reaction was to say "i'm sorry you don't find us funny". So I took it to the next step, along with hundreds of others, and did our best to get through to them that they need to be educated and actually listen.

[lauramcewan.livejournal.com]

It's called voting with your feet and your dollars. I boycott Nestle for their actions that have killed many, many babies. I should just let them continue with their lies to their mothers that result in dead babies? Oh, wait, that might be fascist of me...

[stitchesandlace.livejournal.com]

-Edited because apparently LJ hates my html-

While your opinion is a valid one, if there was never any kind of public response on people's opinions or actions, we would be in a society where government control is absolute, where women do not have the right to vote or be educated and where blacks are slaves. How's that for facism?

The first amendment, which includes freedom of speech, does not grant the right to verbally oppress; it is the right to defend yourself from being oppressed.

The reason we live in such a free and fair society today, where MOST groups have equal rights and freedoms, is thanks to millions of people who expressed their right to free speech and peaceful protest to disagree with the way things were. We are fighting for equality, and for the same rights and freedoms that other minority groups are able to enjoy. Nobody said anything about punishing anyone other than those who directly stated what their said - the two radio hosts in question - just that they realize what they did was wrong, that they crossed the line and said some very dangerous things, and to apologize and learn from it. Which, thanks to a huge public outcry including the loss of support from several high-profile advertisors (which all stated something similar to this: "SONIC in no way condones violence toward children and does not wish to be associated with media content that condones or promotes such activity in any way."), it seems they have finally woken up - see what I linked below.

Yes, everyone has the right to their opinion. That is free speech. But no, you don't have the right to violently and obscenely degrade any members of society over a public broadcast such as radio, television, etc. Can you imagine what would happen if a popular radio host aired a thirty minute segment expressing that blacks are "creeps, idiots" and have a "disease"? That society should "beat them down"? To ADVOCATE violence against them? He'd be arrested! There are reasons why quality control and the Federal Communications Commission (http://www.fcc.gov/) exists - to prevent this kind of thing from happening through rules and regulations governing telecommunication employees ethics and conduct. The FCC has in fact fined this radio station for obscenity before. I suggest you do some research.

I respect your opinion, and I do not wish to force anything on you. I merely believe that adults should act like adults and not advocate physical violence or ANY different kind of treatment toward ANY group that is "different" and use this hate speech to make a buck. You encourage people to make decisions for themselves, and then you question me when I do. Changing the station perpetuates the problem. By turning a blind eye to the behavior, you are accepting it.

This is part of a message from the show directly (the capslock is due to a direct c&p from their website, href="http://www.robarnieanddawn.com

"TO OUR LOYAL ROB, ARNIE AND DAWN FOLLOWERS,

WE HAVE FAILED YOU. AS A SHOW, AS PEOPLE, AS BROADCASTERS, WE HAVE SIMPLY FAILED ON ALMOST EVERY LEVEL.

WE PRESENTED OUR OPINIONS ON A VERY SENSITIVE SUBJECT IN A HATEFUL, CHILDISH AND CRUDE FASHION; AND THEN, GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY TO RETRACT THOSE REMARKS, WE DEFENDED THEM.

SINCE THEN, YOU, OUR LOYAL LISTENERS, HAVE MADE IT CLEAR TO US THAT WE WENT TOO FAR. THE RESPONSE HAS BEEN OVERWHELMING. NONE OF YOU SAID THAT WE COULDN’T HAVE OPINIONS, YET SO MANY OF YOU SAID THAT THE WAY WE GAVE THEM CROSSED THE LINE. FURTHER, YOU SAID THAT OUR ATTEMPT TO MASK OUR COMMENTS AS “JOKES THAT WOULD BE UNDERSTOOD BY OUR AUDIENCE,” WAS UNACCEPTABLE. I WOULD SAY NOW THAT IT WAS WORSE THAN THAT, IT WAS COWARDLY. YOU HAVE MADE THAT CLEAR.

WE HAVE REACHED OUT TO VARIOUS GROUPS AND ASKED FOR A CHANCE TO MAKE THIS RIGHT; TO RESPOND, WITH THEIR PARTICIPATION, TO THE EDUCATION THAT OUR AUDIENCE HAS PROVIDED US. THAT OPPORTUNITY HAS BEEN GRACIOUSLY GRANTED THIS THURSDAY MORNING, JUNE 11TH. AT 7:30 A.M."