Radio host's words punished: WHAM suspends Lonsberry for reputed remarks about mayor.

ROCHESTER NY--A local conservative radio host was suspended for two days Monday after he made on-air comments that alluded to Rochester’s African-American mayor as a “monkey” and “orangutan.”

Bob Lonsberry, midday talk show host with WHAM-AM (1180), apologized during a two-minute taped message at the beginning of his show Monday before a guest host took over.

“I mean neither the mayor nor anyone else any personal harm or insult,” said Lonsberry, whose statement was replayed at the end of the three-hour show.

“And I would certainly apologize for any interpretation of my words which would appear to be racist. I am not a racist. But then racism is in the eye of the beholder, not in the heart of the speaker.”

Lonsberry made two controversial remarks recently that alluded to Mayor William A. Johnson Jr.’s campaign for Monroe County executive.

Late last month, Lonsberry made the first comment after an orangutan briefly escaped from a cage at the Seneca Park Zoo.

“Headline: Orangutan escapes at zoo, runs for county executive. Fascinating stuff,” Lonsberry said.

On Thursday, Lonsberry played what he said was the last caller of his show. Music that suggested a jungle scene with monkey sounds was then heard.

Lonsberry responded, “Freakin’ monkeys loose up at the zoo again. That’s really fine, really fine. Yeah, yeah, and he’s running for county executive. What is with that? I think we better go now.”

The comments drew rebukes from Johnson, a frequent Lonsberry target, and county GOP Chairman Stephen J. Minarik III. Both questioned whether a two-day suspension was enough.

Johnson said the suspension amounts to “nothing more than a slap on the hand,” saying community outrage over the remarks may grow because of the light punishment.

“There has to be a better statement that this type of behavior will not be tolerated,” said Johnson.

Minarik said of the suspension, “It seems to me, considering the severity of the commentary, that may not be enough.”

Republican county executive candidate Maggie Brooks declined to comment Monday, saying “it would be inappropriate.”

Lonsberry, 44, of Mount Morris, Livingston County, didn’t mention the mayor by name, but Johnson said Lonsberry knew what he was doing — especially since it happened twice.

“I think the connection is much too close, and someone of his intelligence … that’s not an accident,” Johnson said Friday when first asked about the comments. “It’s not a slip of the tongue. He should know better.”

Several attempts to reach Lonsberry at the station Friday were unsuccessful. He has an unlisted telephone number and could not be reached Monday.

The radio station did not say why the chosen punishment was a two-day suspension or whether Lonsberry will be paid during the suspension. Lawyer Frank Cegelski was hosting the show in Lonsberry’s absence, said station manager Jeff Howlett.

Howlett said only one person complained after Lonsberry made the remarks. Officials at City Hall said they’ve received about a half dozen calls from people angry about it.

The station, owned by Clear Channel Communications Inc., refused to let callers on the air Monday to discuss the suspension. Howlett said the phones “were jammed” with people wanting to comment, many supporting Lonsberry.

Howlett said the goal was to “focus on the issue of the day and not the Bob Lonsberry issue.” The show’s topic was government consolidation.

“I would like to apologize to our listeners, advertisers and employees for Bob’s offensive remarks,” Howlett said later in a statement. “Talk shows are by their nature controversial; however, there is a community standard to which we hold all of our on-air talent.”

The Rev. Norvel Goff, president of the Rochester chapter of the NAACP, said he had received several calls about the remarks. Goff said he plans to meet with Howlett to hear the comments and is withholding judgment until then.

He said he had heard complaints in the past about racially insensitive remarks allegedly made by Lonsberry.

John Baugh, a professor of linguistics and education at Stanford University, said the words “monkey” and “orangutan” have negative connotations when used toward black people.

“If you look historically at a lot of the racist insults against African-Americans who were slave descendants, comparing us to apes, monkeys and orangutans was common,” said Baugh, who is black. “If anyone wants to argue it’s a generic insult, that’s more far-fetched than saying that kind of insult should not be taken as” a racial slur.

The comments are the latest nationally in which the use of the word “monkey” led to accusations of racial slurs. The most famous was in 1983 when legendary broadcaster Howard Cosell faced strong criticism when he said of the Washington Redskins’ Alvin Garrett, “look at that little monkey run.”

In 2000, Atlanta Braves pitcher John Rocker was accused of calling black teammate Randall Simon a “fat monkey.” And last month, a white Schenectady policeman was fired for allegedly calling a black man a “monkey.”

On Friday, Johnson said he and Lonsberry have a long history, dating back to Lonsberry’s career as a columnist with the Democrat and Chronicle and commentator at WHEC-TV (Channel 10).

At one point, Lonsberry advised the mayor to ignore him, Johnson said, adding that he has generally taken that advice to heart.

“That’s not for me to say. ... Those words aren’t coming out of my mouth, and I’m not promoting it,” he said Friday. But he added, “If I were to make some racially disparaging comments about Maggie Brooks or I was to make some sexually disparaging comment about Maggie Brooks, he would be leading the parade to have me run out of town. Therefore he has to be held to the very same standard.”

Lonsberry sounded iffy about his future career in his recorded apology, saying at one point that he’s off the air Monday and today and that the future is somewhat uncertain. He said he was being taken off the air after an editorial Saturday in the Democrat and Chronicle took aim at his comments.

After 15 years as a newspaper columnist and talk show host, Lonsberry explained that the community has a right to judge him and his positions, saying, “My thought is that I will gladly offend people purposely. It is never my intention to offend people accidentally.

Lonsberry's Response in his September 23rd Column:

MY LATEST MELTDOWN

I have reverse-Midas syndrome. Everything I touch turns to crap.

Here’s the latest example.

I’ve been suspended from one of my radio jobs. A midday show at WHAM radio in Rochester, New York. Pretty much, I’ve turned my name to mud at the station and in the company that owns it.

The largest radio company in the nation.

And the company that employs me at my other radio job, on KNRS in Salt Lake City.

It’s all pretty ironic, actually. Last week in the dark of the night as I scratched in my journal before bed I reported that I’d had a good show in Rochester, that things had gone well and I was satisfied and grateful.

Shows what I know.

In the closing moments of that show, in a little thing called “Listeners On The Loose,” where people spout off for 15 seconds and I spout back, I had apparently called the mayor of Rochester a monkey. Actually, I think it was an orangutan. We had been speaking of an orangutan earlier in the show. That’s why it came to mind.

It was an off-the-cuff comment in an off-the-cuff setting. Rapid fire. My intent was to say I thought the mayor of Rochester was an idiot.

But the mayor of Rochester is a black man.

And apparently, I had said something similar a couple of weeks before.

And apparently there was someone taping the program. And that someone provided an excerpted transcript to the “Democrat and Chronicle,” a newspaper in Rochester. The newspaper found the comments racist and so editorialized on Saturday.

By Monday someone else was sitting in my seat.

So that’s where things stand.

Hoisted on my own petard, as they used to say. Back when they knew what a petard was.

It’s an interesting and potentially life-changing predicament. I’d been kind of focusing on radio in recent years as a career and livelihood and to have the real possibility of that evaporating in an instant isn’t fun.

But that’s life.

Part of me is hurt that anyone would think I was a racist. Though I’m not sure anyone really thinks I am a racist, I suspect they are merely saying I am a racist. If you get the difference.

But that’s on them.

What’s on me is the fact I said something that got me in trouble, caused my coworkers grief and gave the wrong impression. I am not afraid to offend people on purpose; I want never to offend people accidentally. One is acceptable, the other is not. One serves a purpose, the other inflicts a needless hurt.

My words clearly were wrong. And I am sorry for them. I sincerely apologize to anyone who might have been genuinely offended.

I am not sure how many that would be. The program is, after all, heard by tens of thousands of people and has one of the largest black audiences of any radio show in town. And yet after the two things were said on the two programs there were absolutely no complaints. None. Not to me, not to bosses, not to sponsors, not to anyone.

Not for days afterward, not until the controversy had begun. And then there was one call. From a person who typically calls to complain. One call from tens of thousands of listeners.

So I’m not sure how much real heartburn the comments caused and how much they led people to think I was a racist.

But that’s probably not relevant.

I specifically would say to the mayor that I have no ill will toward him because of his race. I completely oppose his candidacy for county executive, I believe he has been an atrocious steward of the city. I disagree with him politically. I don’t think he is an orangutan, I think he is a jackass. [Emphasis mine.]

And I suspect he thinks the same of me.

And we are each probably right to some degree or another.

If the mayor was offended, thinking I was making reference to his race, I apologize. That was not my intent or desire.

But I think what’s at play here is just hardball politics. Not just the politics of the ballot box, but of basic philosophy. I am the most effective conservative voice in Rochester. I have been for more than a decade. I have caused discomfort for people throughout the political, educational, non-profit, business, labor, religious, liberal and activist communities. I have enemies aplenty.

And I gave them the rope to hang me.

But somebody was running tape. Somebody was recording the program, looking for the rope. This somebody then secretly took the quotes to the newspaper. The newspaper has not identified its confederate, or that person’s stake in the matter. My hunch would be that it might be one of the two political parties – both have cause to be angry with me – or one of the campaigns for local office. If I am criticizing a candidate or party, in the run-up to the election, what better way to silence that criticism than to get me canned?

At the newspaper, whoever it was, found an eager audience. Specifically, on the editorial page. A page I have attacked for years, and which has attacked me for years. An editorial page that is the most prominent liberal voice in Rochester.

So that’s what happened.

I’ve apologized.

And I would also point out that for 15 years in Rochester, as a columnist at two newspapers and as a radio host, I have been in a position where my views, thoughts, personality and character have been on almost daily display, with all their warts and flaws. I would say in my defense: What have those 15 years said?

Have they said I am a racist?

Can anyone honestly say that they have?

I have a clear conscience. I am not a racist and I meant no offense by what I said. This is an offense by accident, not an offense by character. I am on the air seven hours a day in two cities talking and talking and talking. To judge that by what was said in five seconds is unfair and wrong.

Someone told me that what I said could only be a sign of racism or stupidity. Well, someone who is either racist or stupid should not be on the air. I don’t believe I am either of those things.

But it’s not my call.

So I will close by saying two things.

The first is that I am and have been grateful. It has been a privilege to be on the air at WHAM. If my time there is done, or if it lasts another 40 years, the only words on my lips as I walk out the door will be, “Thank you.”

The second is something I have said literally hundreds of times on the air. Something that has never been reported by the paper. It is my philosophy on race. It is a verse from a song I learned at my grandmother’s knee.

“Jesus loves the little children. All the little children of the world. Red and yellow, black and white. All are precious in his sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world.”

That was His philosophy, and it has always been my philosophy.

No matter what the newspaper says.

- by Bob Lonsberry © 2003

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