I’ve never heard anything more un-American. If you don’t personally like it, it’s your duty to alert media, organize boycotts, harass sponsors, and do whatever you can to make sure that what you personally do not like is made unavailable to everybody. Remember, if you only change the channel, you run the risk of, in the future, possibly hearing a few seconds of these guys while channel-surfing, if you are not careful enough. That simply cannot be.
Doubtful, especially since word from believable sources close to the show is that XM has fired O&A.
I won’t be surprised if the subscriber churn numbers for this quarter are HUGE.
Well, that’s the free market in action, isn’t it? If you don’t like the fact that consumers of media entertainment in a market economy can deliberately try to decrease the market share of entertainment products that they don’t approve of, perhaps you’d be happier in some society where all media content is directly controlled by the state and consumers are unable to influence it?
Silly and distorting hyperbole is a game that two can play.
And also the parallel case, as could be inferred from the OP, the public figure says something stupid and then someone asks “How come we’re not hearing THIS being made a Big Deal of in the Mainstream Media[sup]TM[/sup]?”. Where the answers can be because we don’t feel like giving them the publicity, or because they’re C-listers anyway, or, maybe, because the complainer is not looking in the right info outlets and/or because the reaction is not the one the complainer wants.
I’ll be surprised if they’re fired, but I didn’t think Imus would be fired either.
Probably not, but I bet I’d be happier in a society where folks learned how to simply not watch or listen to media they don’t like. At least I’d be less annoyed.
Actually, I heard a lot about this story, as well as the one about the other DJs with the Asian joke schtick. (Granted, I heard the latter on angryasianman.com.) Opie & Anthony famously got fired for the sex in the church stunt they pulled a few years back, so they are repeat offenders in the bad taste stakes.
These dolts are about the lowest forms of life. Why is it that all of these guys tend to be ugly, socially maladjusted jerks? Semi-stars in a field with only one, or perhaps two legit stars (Imus and Stern).
Who precisely listens to this stuff over the age of 18, exactly?
Radio station exec here: Opie and Anthony are on satellite radio, which is not beholden to FCC program standards and has a much smaller audience than Imus’ syndicated show. Because of that, there was no political advantage to making a big stink over their idiocy.
O&A are, I think, looking to get fired. They’ve been talking about it a lot since the Imus thing.
Sirus and XM are merging, and Stern hates O&A. Well. Dislikes them. They hate him. (They hate everyone except Ozzy and Kevin Smith. If Jim Norton didn’t love Ozzy, they’d hate him too.)
They’re looking for some way to get kicked out before they’re forced out. More money that way. (I listen to a lot of ten-minutes in a row. Sometimes longer before it gets to me. It’s still the best radio on the road … I love good music, but man, by this point, I’ve heard it all a hundred times.)
Hadn’t heard about it 'til I read something on Feministing. Some interesting comments to be found…
I’ve got to say, it seems like it’s a combo of them bing on XM + lack of a racial slur (in this particular instance, at least).
Well, first of all, I think that the fact that O&A are on XM and thus free from everything that Howard Stern ranted about when he made his move to Sirius is a big part of why this hasn’t reached the Imus plateau just yet. With Imus you were dealing with CBS, one of the pillars of broadcasting, and to a lesser extent MSNBC, two quite prominent non-premium media outlets. This doesn’t mean that inappropriate banter is less tolerated on premium radio or TV, but perhaps that which pushes the limits of taste is more expected there by the general public than on regular cable or broadcast TV.
Secondly, the Imus affair was pretty much a continuation of the ongoing debate as to who is “allowed” to say things like “nappy-headed” and “nigger” and “ho” and “bitch” and “wetback” and what have you. Keep in mind that we had the Michael Richards death spiral not too long ago, so probably a lot of people had their ears to the ground for further developments in controversial racial topics in the media. So it could be that Imus would not have stepped on as big a land mine as he did had he said what he did at some other point. Not that the outcome would have been much different for him - he still may have lost his job - but now we’re talking about it in the context of, “first Kramer and now THIS!”
However, to me there is a big difference in the two episodes: Imus’ comments were more or less an off-handed quip that was descriptive in nature. Yes, they were offensive, but they merely described their target and nothing more. O&A, on the other hand, introduced the concept of their target being raped into the equation. Rape is not funny, not even in Mel Brooks movies. To make fun of your target is one thing, but to theorize/fantasize about them being sexually violated takes some sort of sick nerve. I’m no fan of Condi Rice, but I would never wish rape on her or on anyone else - and that includes prison inmates who are routinely chided for being “bitches” of other inmates. Imus - well, apparently he just has some good ole’ boy tendencies deep down. Opie & Anthony… what they consider to be humorous disturbs me more.
“You said rape twice.” “I like rape.”
Apparently, it is funny in Mel Brooks movies.
That particular incident was probably not even the most offensive thing they said that day. I don’t see any women’s groups getting up in arms over it, probably because it was directed at one or two individuals who are bad people. Rice has contributed to more innocent people dying than anyone outside of Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot and Idi Amin. She deserves respect? I think not.
What will happen to the XM subscribers who bought it for the uncensored programming?
Is this a ploy by XM to make nice with the various regulatory committees looking into the Sirius merger? Is it going to backfire on them?
I’d be pretty pissed if I dropped the money for the receiver and a monthly subscription because I wanted non-FCC regulated shock jockery, and then this happened. What good is being free of the FCC if the offenderatti are still being acquiesced to?
My new hypothesis is that this is a powerplay by XM to show that they have these guys under control. They forced them to apologize, and they did. Sort of. Apparently their apology was half-hearted at best, and throughout the show earlier this week they made it clear that they disagreed with the apology in the first place. So, XM steps in to put them in their place. I don’t think this is coming from the interest groups and the sponsors.
Or maybe I’m just in denial about how asinine everything has become.
The thing is, XM is merging with Sirus. Which means with Howard. These guys hate Howard, and will flame out before knuckling under to him.
DoperGuy is a huge O & A fan, a Pest as they call themselves. He’s called XM and asked for his subscription to be put on hold. As long as O & A are suspended, so is his subscription. He is far from alone in this. If they get fired altogether, he will cancel his subscription. Again, he is far from alone in this and XM knows it.
The more censoring XM tries to do to O & A, the closer they will be to pulling some crazy stunt to get themselves fired. This would result in loosing many many subscribers. O & A fans are hardcore, unlike anything I’ve ever seen. If O & A goes, so do they. I really doubt XM will let this happen.
Yes, O & A are disgusting, foul-mouthed, rude, crude… but that’s what XM pays them to be. They knew what sort of show they were buying into when they offered them a job. What they - and the homeless guy - said regarding the public officials is nothing compared to other things. But again, XM was well aware of this.
And I’d like to know what the stupid douches expected who went out of their way to buy a satellite radio, subscribe to XM, and tuned in A&O, and were offended.
Can you imagine if these people start subscribing to HBO? “They said a swear in that movie! And showed a naked booby! ALERT THE MEDIA!!”
One theory is that XM is playing nice for the FCC so the merger goes through.