{"id":7409,"date":"2017-10-23T17:27:01","date_gmt":"2017-10-24T00:27:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/verbalrights.com\/?p=7409"},"modified":"2025-07-30T13:47:23","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T20:47:23","slug":"kfi-radio-host-calls-congresswoman-a-democrat-whore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/verbalrights.com\/?p=7409","title":{"rendered":"L.A. Morning Radio Host Calls Black Congresswoman a \u2018Cheap Sleazy Democrat Whore\u2019 (LISTEN)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>*Full disclaimer, I listen to KFI 640 AM religiously. From Wake Up Call with Jennifer Jones Lee through the Tim Conway Jr. Show and even Jesus Christ on Sunday mornings. I am both a fan of the shows as well as the news reporting.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/348160715&amp;color=0066cc\"><\/iframe><br \/>\nThat said, I am also a Black woman and just like I took issue with John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou of KFI\u2019s John and Ken show when after Whitney Houston was found dead in a bathtub at the Beverly Hilton they called her a \u201ccrack ho\u201d on the air\u2013I can\u2019t remain silent about another KFI personality calling a Black woman a whore.<\/p>\n<p>Who better than a listener to raise the issue of KFI morning show host Bill Handel of the Bill Handel Show calling South Florida Congresswoman Frederica Wilson a \u201ccheap sleazy Democrat whore.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It happened the morning of Friday, October 20 during Handel\u2019s regular segment with political strategist John Thomas.<\/p>\n<p>In responding to comments from Thomas about Rep. Wilson blasting President Trump for telling the pregnant widow of a Sgt. La David Johnson killed in Niger that her 25-year-old husband \u201cknew what he signed up for\u201d Handel said, \u201cI\u2019m far more upset with her because that is a cheap affectation\u2013she\u2019s a cheap sleazy\u2013ah\u2013Democrat whore is what she is. Okay\u2013no excuse me\u2013I\u2019m being too generous to her.\u201d<br \/>\nWhen Thomas, to his credit, tried to correct Handel and tone down Handel\u2019s rhetoric, Handel repeated the slur by saying, \u201cI would add the word whore. There are a few other words I could throw in there but I want to stay working here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This happened on Friday and I know I wasn\u2019t the only person listening to KFI which is often in the top spot in the local radio ratings for the Los Angeles media market. That means millions of daily listeners. But nothing has been said about Handel\u2019s comments. Why is that? Do Black women not warrant the same respect as other women in this country?<\/p>\n<p>In what part of today\u2019s politically correct America is it okay for a radio host to refer to anyone as a whore on the radio\u2013let alone a member of the House of Representatives?<br \/>\nLike John and Ken and Don Imus, Bill Handel is a white man who called a Black woman a derogatory name over public airwaves.<\/p>\n<p>As someone who produces talk radio and is often in front of the mic, I would never get away with calling someone a whore on the air. It just wouldn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n<p>In a time where how women are treated is front and center, I find it unconscionable to believe that I was the only person who heard Handel call Rep. Wilson a whore and take issue with it.<\/p>\n<p>While I know that the majority of KFI\u2019s listening base is white and in a lot of ways politically conservative, calling a woman\u2013any woman\u2013a whore on the radio simply because the host disagrees with her actions is inexcusable and shouldn\u2019t be glossed over so easily. All women, not just Black women, have a responsibility to speak up and say that\u2019s not okay.<\/p>\n<p>If Bill Handel would have called one of Harvey Weinstein\u2019s alleged victims a whore would we even be having this conversation about why what he said was wrong? I doubt it.<\/p>\n<p>Bill Handel owes Rep. Wilson an apology. KFI and Bill Handel owe their listeners an apology.<\/p>\n<p>The fact that Handel so brazenly repeated the slur says to me it was a slip of the tongue and that he doesn\u2019t need sensitivity training, rehab or attorney Lisa Bloom to represent him. He\u2019s far beyond that.<\/p>\n<p>KFI\u2019s management must already know that what Bill Handel said wasn\u2019t kosher as that segment is conveniently missing from Friday\u2019s podcast of the show. Some would call that being complicit.<\/p>\n<p>I listen to KFI and its hosts because they talk about the issues that I most care about\u2013whether I agree or not with the hosts. As a Black woman and as a listener I don\u2019t want to hear other women called whores.<\/p>\n<p>It wasn\u2019t cute when John and Ken called Whitney Houston a \u201ccrack whore\u201d and it\u2019s not cute now.<br \/>\nKFI needs to do the right thing about Handel\u2019s egregious choice of words and their ongoing problem with how their hosts refer to Black women.<br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/348192500&amp;color=0066cc\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/verbalrights.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Jasmyne.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-7414 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/verbalrights.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Jasmyne-300x218.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"218\" srcset=\"https:\/\/verbalrights.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Jasmyne-300x218.png 300w, https:\/\/verbalrights.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Jasmyne-200x145.png 200w, https:\/\/verbalrights.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Jasmyne.png 739w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><em>Jasmyne Cannick is a nationally known writer and commentator on political, race and social issues. She was selected as one of ESSENCE Magazine\u2019s 25 Women Shaping the World, one of the Most Influential African-Americans in Los Angeles Under 40, one of Los Angeles\u2019 Most Fascinating Angelenos by the L.A. Weekly and one of 40 People Under 40 by the Advocate. She\u2019s worked in the U.S. House of Representatives and at all levels of government helping to shape public opinion and encourage civic engagement while advocating for underrepresented and marginalized communities in the political arena. Follow her on Twitter @Jasmyne and on Facebook @JasmyneCannick.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>*Full disclaimer, I listen to KFI 640 AM religiously. From Wake Up Call with Jennifer Jones Lee&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7412,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,8,16,14,13,7,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-civil-protest","category-equal-opportunity","category-featured","category-first-amendment-rights","category-music","category-racism","category-social-change","wpcat-4-id","wpcat-8-id","wpcat-16-id","wpcat-14-id","wpcat-13-id","wpcat-7-id","wpcat-17-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/verbalrights.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/verbalrights.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/verbalrights.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/verbalrights.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/verbalrights.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7409"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/verbalrights.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7409\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7420,"href":"https:\/\/verbalrights.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7409\/revisions\/7420"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/verbalrights.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/verbalrights.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/verbalrights.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/verbalrights.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}