Groups want 'John and Ken' show off the air [ Supporters of Illegals seek to stop Constitution ]

Los Angeles Times ^ | Sept 30 2011 | Paloma Esquivel,

[NoLibZone]

The popular KFI radio hosts gave out the cellphone number of an immigrant rights activist, prompting hate-filled calls. Minority and immigrant rights groups say they will boycott advertisers if the show isn't taken off the air.

Long-time immigrant rights activist Jorge-Mario Cabrera is used to being called to task for his views. But when radio hosts John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou recently gave out his cellphone number on the air in a campaign against the California Dream Act, he found himself unprepared for the barrage of hate-filled phone calls that followed.

In the days after the KFI-AM (640) radio hosts read Cabrera's cellphone and office numbers on the air and told listeners opposed to state tuition assistance for illegal immigrants to call him, Cabrera, a spokesman for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, got more than 400 calls, many of them filled with hateful language and calls for violence.

"It's never been as cutting, as humiliating as these calls were," Cabrera said. "These calls were intent to diminish me as a person.

The National Hispanic Media Coalition led what some believe was a successful campaign to get television host Lou Dobbs off the air at CNN for similar reasons. Dobbs resigned days after the coalition's president met with the head of the news network, but the network has denied that the meeting led to the resignation.

Now the coalition has joined with several major Latino and immigrant rights groups, including the National Assn. of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials and the National Immigration Law Center, in calling on the radio station to remove the show's hosts or face a boycott of its sponsors.

[Forward the Light Brigade]

John and Ken—I love those guys—they say the things that need to be said—they are not partisan. They are the best thing on the AM dial.

[Veggie Todd]

Before they spend any time or energy on a boycott of KFI advertisers, they should check with the other 10,000 groups that have mounted a boycott to see how it turned out. KFI and their advertisers eat this stuff up.