The morning radio staff sang a bigoted parody that exacerbated the pain and suffering of the recent South Asian tsunami victims and made racially charged statements encouraging hatred, scorn, and violence towards people of Asian descent. The "Tsunami Song" contains unmistakablely racist epithets in its lyrics, including:

You can hear the screaming chinks.
There were Africans drowning/
Little Chinamen swept away/
You can hear God laughing, 'Swim you bitches swim.'
While introducing the song, male host Todd Lynn threatens,
"I'm going to start shooting Asians."

HOT 97 has already disabled the link to the Tsunami Song. However, below is a link to the mp3 for you to listen for yourself:

http://www.thesilent1.com/longer_hot97_tsunami.mp3

"We are appalled at the lack of sensitivity to the pain and suffering of the recent South Asian tsunami victims. Miss Jones and Todd Lynn's broadcast included racially insensitive and inflammatory statements that encourage hatred and violence towards people of Asian descent," said OCA National President, Ginny Gong. "OCA calls for their immediate removal from the airwaves and that Hot 97 / WQHT be sanctioned for broadcasting and promoting a program containing such hateful trash. The use of racial slurs is simply unacceptable, no matter what one's ethnicity. The public and the victims of this tragedy deserve better. "

"We must continually fight against the use of slurs, bigotry, and hate speech and hold Miss Jones and Todd Lynn accountable. As radio personalities, they should have exercised better judgment," said Christine Chen, OCA Executive Director.

At Noon on January 25, OCA-NY Chapter President Jerry Cheng and OCA-NY Chapter Board Member Kai Yu attended a news conference organized and led by New York City Council Member John C. Liu, along with The Friends of Jimmy Meng - Democrat for State Assembly; and the grassroots advocacy group Asian Media Watch. Together, they denounced the Hot 97 broadcasts and called on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to investigate this matter and to take strong disciplinary action against Hot 97. OCA National strongly reiterates those sentiments and supports that request.

OCA denounces the "Tsunami Song" as racist, horribly insensitive, and finds the seven-line "statement" by the radio station neither an explanation nor a justification. Instead the statement was a pathetic excuse and a non-apology.

OCA demands that Hot 97 WQHT FM and its parent companies - Emmis Radio and Emmis Communications - remove Miss Jones and Todd Lynn from future broadcasts. Also, OCA calls on the FCC to investigate this matter, enforce broadcast decency standards, and penalize Hot 97 to the harshest extent under law. OCA will continue to work with all concerned organizations to achieve these objectives. As always, OCA stands with those individuals and groups that promote compassion and diversity, and who are outraged by the denigrating and dehumanizing message directed at Asians, Africans and Asian Americans by the Hot 97 "Tsunami Song."

January 25, 2005
Contact:Anh Phan
(202) 223-5500