The following was sent to the V103 FM Program Director, General Manager, and others.
I have been a V103 listener for quite some time now. I have never really paid attention to what the DJs were saying until recently. I was listening to my favorite Friday night mix show about a month ago when the DJ 'big Daddy Woo Woo' made a very negative comment about gay men that were attending the International Mr. Leather Convention ... and [ said ] 'they should be ashamed of themselves.' I was taken off guard and very disappointed of his ignorance and bigotry. What was once my regular Friday night program was dismissed until this past Friday when I had a party and wanted to hear the good music. The same DJ came on the radio and made yet another anti-gay comment. At about 10:45 p.m. he made mention to his co-workers being on a float for the gay pride parade and started to laugh at them proclaiming 'I don't know how you guys can do that, I could never do that'. About 15 minutes later he then again laughed and made a joke about the gay section of town ... in a queer voice.
Everyone at this party heard these negative comments ... and everyone was there to celebrate gay pride. The radio then went off and discussion started. We decided to write you and insist that something be done about this. This type of behavior or ignorance is completely irresponsible and unacceptable. The prejudice and bigotry displayed by this DJ is the same as the white supremacist against the Black people in this country. He being a Black man and not recognizing this as the ultimate level of ignorance that pushes hate crime.
Mr. Big Daddy Woo Woo should attend a pride celebration so he can see how many of V103 and WGCI listeners participate. I'm sure many people of the Black community would feel offended if a DJ were to say they couldn't push themselves to go to the Bud Billiken parade 'that's too much,' especially if the DJ was white. It's fine if people are not educated enough that they are homophobic or anti-gay in their personal domain without hurting anyone else, everyone has their own beliefs. But when you go on the air and offend people for being who they are, [ it ] is wrong. You can not make a homosexual person turn heterosexual just like you can't take the color tone off of skin. We will not listen to V103 until this ignorant DJ is taken off the air. A DJ of V103's sister station was taken off for making one comment on the air and this DJ is obviously consistent on his anti-gay belief and it's being accepted and tolerated by your management, but I can assure you not from your listeners.
We can not stand for such behavior and are contacting the following organizations about this issue: Windy City Times, The Advocate, the Chicago Area Gay And Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, Chicago Black Lesbians and Gays, Chicago Commission On Human Relations, Equality Illinois, Human Rights Campaign and Robert Feder. — Krystal Diaz, Chicago