Savage Fired After Anti-Gay Remarks to Yolo County Man

Sacramento Bee ^ | July 8, 2003 | J. Freedom duLac

[republicofdavis]

Bob Foster, the rural Yolo County man who has taken to terrorizing TV and radio shows with prank phone calls, says his hobby "is all about getting a reaction."

But this may be more than he bargained for. On Saturday, Foster called Michael Savage's live MSNBC show to mention a favorite radio duo, Don and Mike.

Savage was apparently not amused and made a series of homophobic comments to Foster on the air.

On Monday, news broke that the controversial broadcast personality had been fired by MSNBC. And it wasn't long before Foster began to feel the wrath of Savage fans, who have taken to the Internet to spew invective his way.

"I've been getting so much hate e-mail from the Savage Nation," Foster says. "It's kind of frightening, actually. People are saying, 'Look behind your back.' And they're making anti-gay statements.

"I'm not gay. But they're calling me derogatory gay names. It goes on and on. They're disregarding what Savage said and putting the blame on me for him losing his job. It's ridiculous.

"I don't like to see a guy lose his job. But he made a mistake. His comments were way out of line."

The comments in question came after Foster called and began telling Savage about a flight he took from New York.

"Half-hour into the flight," Foster is heard saying on a tape of the incident, "I need to suggest that Don and Mike take your (inaudible) ... 'cause your teeth are real bad."

Savage fumes at the remarks and says:

"Oh, you're one of the sodomites. You should only get AIDS and die, you pig. How's that? Why don't you see if you can sue me, you pig? You got nothing better than to put me down, you piece of garbage? You've got nothing to do today? Go eat a sausage and choke on it. Get trichinosis."

Savage then asks to speak to a caller who "didn't have a nice night in the bathhouse who's angry at me today. These bums mean nothing to me."

During the exchange, somebody off-camera in Savage's studio can be heard gasping.

MSNBC spokesman Jeremy Gaines says Savage was fired immediately after the broadcast.

"In reaction to a hostile caller, Savage made an extremely inappropriate comment," Gaines says. "The decision to cancel the program ('Savage Nation') was not difficult."

Savage remains on the radio, where his show is syndicated in more than 200 markets -- including Sacramento, where it airs on KSTE (650 AM).

KSTE's operations manager, Ken Kohl, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Savage, too, has been unavailable for comment.

But Foster was readily available to talk about Savage, whose TV show he'd phoned once before.

"I called him a racist that time, and he went off," Foster says. "It was such an overwhelming reaction, I had to do it again.

"Some people think I was out to get him. But I wasn't. I'm a talk-radio fan. I appreciate what he does, despite his opinions. But he was taking phone calls on national TV, and I wanted to mention Don and Mike."

Foster, who has prank-called everybody from Larry King to Don Imus, says while the response from Savage fans has been brutal ("They hate me," he says), he's also received more than a few words of support.

"I've actually gotten more mail in favor of what I did," he says. "I've been getting a lot of thank-you mail from gay-rights advocates.

"Savage definitely has issues with the gay-rights movement. What I said had nothing to do with gays. He just interjected that. He has a lot of gay protesters, and I think that was on his mind."

Cathy Renna of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation says that with gay issues in the forefront of the national news, "Savage's behavior and his attacks violate even the minimal journalistic standards and have no place on a reputable news network like MSNBC."

Savage was hired by MSNBC in early March. His Saturday talk show boosted MSNBC's ratings marginally in the 2 p.m. time slot, but in 14 outings it still ran a distant third to shows on Fox News and CNN.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

About the Writer ---------------------------

The Bee's J. Freedom du Lac can be reached at (916) 321-1115 or jdulac@sacbee.com. USA Today contributed to this report.

[republicofdavis]

Some info on the caller, apparently a local boy

[FourtySeven]

Interesting perspective bump.

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[kylaka]

What EXACTLY did the guy say that set Savage off? I've yet to hear it or see it in print.

[OXENinFLA]

Savage was apparently not amused and made a series of homophobic comments to Foster on the air.

I think this is wrong, he never got to say what Savage heard on the air, only in his ear piece.

I really want to know what the guy said to piss Savage off so much.

[republicofdavis]

I've never seen exactly what he said . . . This is the first time I saw the bit about the teeth though

[End Times Sentinel]

Bob Foster, the rural Yolo County man who has taken to terrorizing TV and radio shows with prank phone calls, says his hobby "is all about getting a reaction."

 

 

Owl_Eagle

”Guns Before Butter.”

[BlacKnight]

Savage claims he didn't know what he was saying would be on the air, even so, why would one decree that another person should "get AIDS and die." Under any circumstance. Although I listen to his program daily, I’m often mystified by the rhetoric. The statements are rather characteristic of Savage, as is his constant reference to the “Death of the White Male” (as if that is the only group negatively impacted by affirmative action).

[jdontom]

East Coast Bob

[FourtySeven]

I think this article is valuable because it shows that the middle portion of the crank call was simply in-audible. It wasn't "dumped" (deleted), it was just in-audible. Clearly the crank caller got all of what he wanted to say on the air but due to his (probably) bad phone connection, some of it wasn't intelligible.

Savage just went off on him because he's an angry person filled with hate. The call clearly didn't contain a death threat, so what Savage said was uncalled for. I'm glad to see him off the air because he only gives conservatives a bad name. I hope many of my fellow conservatives can now see that, and stop listening to his radio show too. I don't care how "right" (correct) he is on any issue; you have zero credibility in my book if you wish death on someone else just because of a disagreement in politics, or for a crank call.

[republicofdavis]

It's funny, I also have listened to his show and know that he professes that he doesn't have any personal problem with gays, he just hates their political agenda. But he sure had those personal insults at the tip of his tongue to blast away with.

[isthisnickcool]

"Oh, you're one of the sodomites. You should only get AIDS and die, you pig. How's that? Why don't you see if you can sue me, you pig? You got nothing better than to put me down, you piece of garbage? You've got nothing to do today? Go eat a sausage and choke on it. Get trichinosis."

The queer folk were upset that Savage said this to another queer? Who cares anyway? They are all pissed off and always will be because the rest of the world won't agree that queer isn't.

But now we find out the caller was not a queer anyway? Not even part of the 2.2% of the population that's queer?

What's the big deal?

[William Terrell]

The 7 second delay allowed censors to edit out the caller's remarks. They weren't inaudable; they were deleted. Why would you think there has been no publication of those comments? They surely were captured on tape.

[republicofdavis]

Well, apparently it's not just gays that are upset, but station management. I won't be surprised if he starts losing radio stations.

I think we would agree that his political opinions on gays are worthy of discussion and we would probably agree with most of them. But it's his childishness that did him in. This diatribe was worthy of a six-year-old.

[joesnuffy]

this caller was part of a group that harrasses conservative radio call in shows
from what I heard this was not his first harrassing phone call to Savage
also the guys that are suppose to screen callers and shut the phone off when the conversation goes south
were asleep at the switch..
Savage counts on these guys to pull the plug in the nick of time..its what they are paid to do
and they were off eating pizza or some such thing
Thats what I heard anyway

[mike_9958]

I got tired of listening the Savage whine. He has the same temperment of the outrageous liberals who rant and rave. I don't disagree with what he says - I just don't like the way he says it, and I believe he turns more folks off than on.

I'd like to see him replaced.

[bedolido]

Savage is an aquired taste. I can only take him for awhile. He was out of control and his remarks were stupid. However, Ms Malvo said Justice Thomas' wife should fee him things to cause his arteries to plug so he'll die. She didn't get fired. Obvious liberal bias... possibly PC fear on the part of the producers of the show Malvo was on... same for the producers of Savages'.

[republicofdavis]

Actually, see post #10. He's a guy who likes to harass all kinds of radio shows, whether conservative or not.

[tallhappy]

Bob Foster, the rural Yolo County man who has taken to terrorizing TV and radio shows with prank phone calls, says his hobby "is all about getting a reaction."

It's all a scam.