St. Louis NAACP Stands By Fired Talk Show Host

Leaders of the local chapter of the NAACP say they believe management at KTRS/St. Louis overreacted when they fired talk host David Lenihan over a remark he made about U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

"This is an event that the press has blown out of proportion," NAACP chapter President Harold Crumpton told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch as he sat alongside Lenihan and his wife during a news conference held in St. Louis yesterday.

Lenihan was fired from KTRS last week after making what he says was a "slip of the tongue" during a discussion of Rice's potential to succeed Paul Tagliabue as NFL Commissioner. Saying he meant to say the word "coup," Lenihan instead told listeners that having an African-American in the position would be "a great coon." Although the talk host immediately apologized, station management fired Lenihan on the spot. He has since been replaced on the air by market veteran McGraw Milhaven, who ironically was also fired from KTRS late last year in a major programming shakeup at the station.

NAACP member Sam Moore told reporters that he realizes some people might find it strange to see the group publicly supporting a talk host who used the word "coon" while talking about Rice. "We're gonna take some hits," he told the newspaper. "People are going to wonder why we are sticking up for my new found friend here. But I am in the forgiving business."

Meanwhile KTRS PD Al Brady Law offered R&R the following statement that he reports Lenihan made on Wednesday afternoon. "Today I met with KTRS executives and I am very grateful for the opportunity they gave me to express my thoughts and again offer my apologies. KTRS is being very understanding and fair, and I appreciate that. We agree it is in everyone's best interest to part company and put this matter behind us, as professionals and as a community. This matter is over. KTRS wished me the best moving forward, and I wish the same for KTRS."

Law said he had no additional comment on the incident, telling R&R he believes that Lenihan's comment "says it all."

Via RadioEqualizer.blogspot.com:

>Equally constructive is Sylvester Brown Jr.'s latest Post-Dispatch column:

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Blacks aren't a monolithic group. I only speak for myself. But that doesn't stop readers from demanding that I investigate or elaborate on racially peppered local and national incidents.

Yet, when it came to Dave Lenihan, no one asked my opinion. Perhaps they thought I'd immediately defend the firing of the former KTRS radio host Wednesday after he used a racial slur in reference to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

If so, they'd be so wrong.

"What's the big deal?" I thought, after reading Lenihan's comments while he discussed Rice's qualifications for the job as NFL commissioner:

"I mean she's just got the patent resume of somebody that's got some serious skill. She loves football," Lenihan said during his morning broadcast. "She's African-American, which would kind of be a big coon. . . . A big coon? Oh my God. I am totally, totally, totally, totally, totally sorry for that. OK? I didn't mean that. That was just a slip of the tongue."

I totally, totally, totally, totally, totally agree. Lenihan suffered a slip of the tongue. Unless he was playing some psychotic mind game of compliment-to-destroy, the "coon" reference wasn't even consistent with his words.

Based on what I had read, I believed radio station CEO Tim Dorsey overreacted when he fired Lenihan.

I listened to the tape and still didn't hear it. No sarcasm. No pleasure. All I heard was a guy who seemed sincerely embarrassed by his ill-chosen words.

"By the way, columnist Brown is no right-winger"

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