Advertisers Drop Support for KFI's 'John & Ken Show' After Campaign By Latino Groups

John and Ken (KFI)

Four advertisers have said they will no longer support KFI radio's "John & Ken Show" following an awareness campaign mounted by several Latino and immigrants' rights groups. Verizon and AT&T Wireless are yanking their ads, reports the Burbank Leader, and grocers Vons and Ralphs, who have run ads on the show in the past, say they will not do so again.

The announcement came Thursday as demonstrators gathered out front of KFI's Burbank offices.

"John & Ken" are John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou, controversial conservative talking heads who read the phone number of local advocate Jorge-Mario Cabrera of the Coalition of Humane Immigration Rights of L.A. (CHIRLA) on the air as part of their campaign to drum up public dissent for the passage and signing into law of the California DREAM Act.

Cabrera reported receiving multiple harassing calls. As part of the harassment, CHIRLA says the callers took part in "terrorizing [and] threatening [the staffer] and crashing the organization’s phone system," according to the organization, all at the goading of Kobylt and Chiampou.

About three dozen protesters were gathered outside KFI yesterday when news of the dropped advertising was announced by The National Hispanic Media Coalition.

KFI has stood behind their show hosts, citing their 1st Amendment rights to say as they wish on the show.

However, not everyone sees it that way, reports the Leader:

And when Kobylt and Chiampou stand behind the 1st Amendment to incite hate against Latinos, they are abusing those rights, said David Rodriguez, spokesman for the League of United Latin American Citizens.

“It’s one thing to run out and express your free speech, but it’s quite another to turn around and demonize a community and victimize a community of hard-working immigrant folks, who all they want to do is make a living and be part of this society,” he said.

Groups backing Cabrera, CHIRLA, and the interest of the immigrant community have called for John & Ken's termination, however they are pleased with the news the advertisers are backing out. They anticipate more advertisers will bow out in the coming weeks.

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By Lindsay William-Ross in News on October 14, 2011 10:07 AM 0 Comments

Comments [rss]

Kevitivity

I laughed at the "inciting hate" line too.

Alabama Slama

Those people dont even shop at the ralphs and vons, they all at that there cardenas and superior and gigante mexi markets.
Why they always gotta be HARD WORKING immigrants, the ones is seez is always drunk and napping on the grass.

Kevitivity

Not cool. You must be a plant.

Miguel Saenz

thank you Buckwheat...i gess you seez and sez it like it iz. By the way, does I haz to eat mousetails?

Alabama Slama

Shoot, mice tails iz gooooood, wit hot sauce

ShakinBoots

It's not unusual to find hardcore racists among pro-illegal supporters. Some of the most racist comments and hate speech I've seen, has come out of "pro immigrant" groups. And just to be clear, what they call "immigrants", the rest of us call "ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS"

Spokker

MEChA is an incredibly racist group, for example.

ShakinBoots

And our Mayor has never renounced his affiliation with them. Pretty sick.
For those who are not familiar, you should read this:
http://www.mayorno.com/WhoIsMe...

Al Pavangkanan

Haha, this is what got Glenn Beck kicked off Fox News.

MouMou

Well I will not be patronizing Ralphs and Vons. I will be taking my business elsewhere. BTW: I AM A HISPANIC WOMAN. Keep up the good work John and Ken! My family and extended family love your show!!

ShakinBoots

I'm glad to see another hispanic speaking up here. I am also hispanic. More of us need to speak up on this issue because politicians want to lump ALL hispanics into the pro-illegal crowd.

It's hard, especially as a Mexican-AMERICAN to speak up. I've been harrassed, threatened, and told I was a "disgrace to my race" for NOT being pro-illegal and not marching in the streets with them. These groups use every dirty manipulative trick in the book to silence views that are different from theirs.

ShakinBoots

Ridiculous.

"when Kobylt and Chiampou stand behind the 1st Amendment to incite hate against Latinos, they are abusing those rights, said David Rodriguez, spokesman for the League of United Latin American Citizens."

First of all, they were not "inciting hate". They were speaking up against the nightmare dream act. Illegals love to play the victim role as soon as anyone calls them out on their bullsh*t. They don't want American citizens to have a voice, yet THEY want us to let them march in our streets, assault people who disagree with them, and provoke, disobey, and then sue our police departments. They use disgusting tactics, but want to silent 2 talk show comentators.

Thesee "immigrant rights" groups are NOT standing up and speaking for "LATIN AMERICAN CITIZENS". They are pro-ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT supporters and THEY are who they fight for. John & Ken have not said or done anything that these same hypocrites (pro-illegal supporters) have also done themselves. The only victims here are John & Ken and the millions of AMERICANS who agree with them and who do not support giving our tax dollars to reward people who come here illegally, disrespect us, and collect benefits they should not be entitled to as ILLEGAL ALIENS.