WDVE called out for material on syndicated program
August 28, 2024A reader led us to an article in QBurgh – Pittsburgh’s LGBTQ news resource – about the Pittsburgh chapter of PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) calling out WDVE (102.5) for comments made during the August 3, 2024 airing of The John Clay Wolfe Show which is syndicated to stations across the country.
The show is said to have featured a segment where the co-hosts of the program mocked Algerian Olympic boxer Imane Khelif, misgendering her and referring to her as a man. Some of the notable comments according to the letter include multiple uses of the term “tranny” which is considered derogatory, and joking at Khelif’s expense that “men beating up women” is a new Olympic sport, among others.
Several community organizations, businesses and government officials in the area signed the letter which asks WDVE to apologize for Wolfe’s use of the transphobic slur. The letter also asks that the station air a statement of inclusiveness and affirmation similar to what iHeart sister station WUSL Philadelphia does prior to airing the syndicated program.
“The John Clay Wolfe Show calls itself ‘America’s largest weekend morning show,’ so the things said on it have an impact,” the letter states. “When Wolf laughs while mocking a vulnerable group of people, he is normalizing bullying.. LGBTQIA+ people, in particular trans people are already targeted for harassment and violence at much higher rates than other groups.”
The letter respectfully ends with the understanding that such issues can be challenging and welcomes the station staff to work with PFLAG in making this incident “an opportunity to learn and grow toward better understanding, inclusion, and caring.”
I haven’t gotten used to our latest Mafia yet. I think that just because you mock one individual that doesn’t mean it applies to everyone else who feels they belong to that category. It’s the same on the other side, if you’re part of a group and say something different, it doesn’t mean the rest of the group feels the same way.
Why not just say, well hey that’s your opinion, and let it drop.
We all know that radio is performance and does what they do for ratings, and that DVE has a history of being a manly radio station. So what do you expect?
Boomer
I knew this post would bring out opinions and this is becoming an interesting social experiment.
I may have to do a musings post on this at some point.
First off, when an activist group “calls out” somebody for a statement they don’t like it isn’t really news. That’s just the group doing what it was founded to do. Here we have an activist group posturing as a news source, which really isn’t the case. Second, you can’t really say something “is considered derogatory” without defining BY WHOM? You hear that word thrown around fairly often and unlike the N-word there isn’t 99.999% agreement out there that it’s offensive. There’s a difference between a wide swath of the populace being offended by something and ten people in an activist group being offended. Lastly, like it or not there is a legitimate issue here as to whether it is physically safe for a biological female to compete in a sport like boxing against somebody who was male at birth. Those of us who have raised daughters get that. I have the feeling that even if this topic had been discussed without the use of the word in question the activist group still would have complained.
But the “legitimate issue” is not the main subject here, Carson. Nor will it be.
That said, let’s get to the subject at hand. My only question of all of this is why didn’t PFLAG, who knew the program is sydicated, go after the sydicator (I’m assuming Premiere Networks or whatever iHeart calls that now)? Yes declaring something, specifically a term, as being “derogatory” is subject to opinion and such. But I think what is being said is “let’s take a preemptive opportunity to prevent it from becoming such.” I’m not sure that’s the intent, but that’s what it seems like to me. I could be wrong.
If I were ignorant enough to conjure up: We all know that radio is performance and does what they do for ratings, and that DVE has a history of being a manly radio station. So what do you expect? I would keep it to myself. As for what I would expect, I would expect people to behave as actual human beings. People that license the vulgar stupidity of other are more prevalent that ever. That “history of being a manly station” quip makes you sound as if you are a cave dweller with skinned knuckles.
If a word is going to be deemed to be offensive enough to warrant banishment that needs to be a whole of society decision. Not the work of an activist group with a narrow agenda. If we are going to give such groups the power to invent news and ban words we’re going to quickly end up losing the language. Every group will pile-on to forbid words they don’t like. And isn’t that just peachy that the actual nub of the issue (safety for female athletes) is to be avoided. For the record I have never used that word in reference to a human being. I did try to use it once in an online auto repair forum where it was longstanding shorthand for a transmission. It got censored. Seriously??
If it was merely use of one word, in this case “tranny,” that was the basis of commentary by PFLAG it would be bad enough. No, it’s the way right-wing writers, broadcasters, politicians, etc. routinely demonize various minority groups with impunity. Bullying people whose only “offense” is simply being different from the majority is never acceptable and must be called out. In a free country (well, until Project 2025 takes effect) we are all beneficiaries of the right to free speech but when it crosses the line it needs to be challenged — not with laws or police actions but in ways to help bring a better understanding of those being demonized. That’s how PFLAG concluded it’s statement: ” . . . making this incident an opportunity to learn and grow toward better understanding, inclusion, and caring.”