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Loading ...Anti-Gay Talk Show Host In New Flap
07.22.2008 4:19pm EDT
(New York City) Outspoken syndicated radio talk show host Michael Savage, who got into trouble several years ago for calling a gay man a sodomite, is facing a new storm over his characterization of children with autism.
Savage, in a lengthy tirade, described autism as a racket last week.“In 99 percent of the cases, it’s a brat who hasn’t been told to cut the act out,” Savage said on his radio program last Wednesday.
“What do you mean they scream and they’re silent? They don’t have a father around to tell them, `Don’t act like a moron. You’ll get nowhere in life. Stop acting like a putz. Straighten up. Act like a man. Don’t sit there crying and screaming, you idiot.’”
Some parents of autistic children are calling for Savage’s termination.
Wendy Fournier of the National Autism Association, a parents’ advocacy group, called Savage’s comments “way, way, way over the line and cruel.”
Savage said he was trying to “boldly awaken” parents to his view that many people are being wrongly diagnosed. But he has refused to apologize.
In a message posted Monday on his Web site, Savage said greedy doctors and drug companies were creating a “national panic” by overdiagnosing autism.
It isn’t the first time Savage has gotten into trouble.
In 2003 he launched into a homophobic tirade against a caller to his MSNBC cable TV show in which he called the man “a sodomite” and told him: “Get AIDS and die, you pig.”
The network immediately fired Savage.
Though the broadcast was not simulcast on radio, several stations which carried the radio program dropped him.
Savage issued what he called an apology, saying he had been set up by a left wing conspiracy.
Not that this (morally speaking) excuses his various nasty comments, but Savage is 100% schtick. As evidenced by the way he redoubles his efforts (by turning up the rhetoric a notch and/or finding a new group to pick on) every time he gets fired, the man gets off on the controversy he generates. When someone behaves nastily, I assume he’s a jerk long before I assume he’s stupid, and the same goes here — he HAS to be fully aware that what he’s saying is flat-out awful — so my only conclusion is that he’s getting exactly what he wants when he generates such firestorms of offense. So, the most effective solution? Don’t give him what he wants! Tell everyone you know to tune him out, do what K’s doing and boycott the advertisers, but don’t play his game by making the noise he gets off on… just get him off the air by convincing his paymasters he’s an irrelevant little worm that no one wants to listen to.
Not that this excuses him one bit (morally speaking) for the various awful things he’s said… but the truth is, Savage is 100% schtick. Offending people is his whole stock in trade (as he’s proven by coming up with new ways to offend and/or selecting new targets, even after repeated controversies and firings). In other words, I’ll believe that someone is a callous jerk long before I’ll assume he’s stupid — and that applies here as well. His comments are so extreme that he can’t POSSIBLY not be aware of the consequences; he’s fully aware of the firestorms of offense that will result, and this is exactly what he gets off on. So the best response? Don’t give him what he wants! Encourage everyone you know not to tune him in, do what K is doing and boycott the advertisers… let’s get him off the air by showing his paymasters he’s an unimportant little worm, rather than by stirring up the controversy he so desperately wants.
His remarks are not acceptable! I have friends who are autistic. They have fathers in their whole lives. Who gave Savage the right to judge???? Get him off the line and put him in Autistic Education program. Then, he can save his job. He is a perfect example who teaches people to pass on their ignorances and prejudices. He makes them thinking it is okay. IF he cannot hold the deal that I offered, he will not be on any kind of Media for LIFE!
Bet this get’s him truly fired this time. Sad that it’ll have taken him ignorantly attacking kids to do this, rather than his anti-gay tirade. Funny isn’t it how right-wingers always blame their parade of overt ignorance on left-wing plots.
If you google bigot, homophobe or just plain ignorant, guess whose picture pops up. Savage is a disgrace to the human race and as well as a waste of oxygen. I created a web page “Say No 2 Hate Radio Campaign”, dedicated to Michael Savage. You can view the video of the encounter he had with Bob, who he called “a sodomite” and told him: “Get AIDS and die, you pig.” They did edit out some of Bob’s comments, which were about Savage’s teeth, but, not Savage’s homophonic rant, check it out at http://www.tampabaycoalition.com/no2hate.html or click my name.
I applaud MSNBC for dumping his butt, sadly, he still spews his anti-gay rhetoric one the radio. Theey say “every dog has it’s day”, I can’t wait till Savage has his.
Michael Savage is a bigoted, phony asshole! Worse than Savage, however, are the whackos who tune into his radio station.
In general, average people didn’t care too much when he was just attacking gays and other similar groups (that’s ‘ok’ to bash in America, as many people tacitly approve but don’t admit to,) but you can’t attack children in this country. My God, is he crazy?… that is a sacred cow! He will be silenced, that’s for sure.
Savage is an idiot, a bigot on so many levels, and a jerk. The fact that KNEW picked him up after his last network fired him tells you all you need to know. Boycott KNEW. (It’s a pathetic excuse for a radio station anyway.)
Having dealt with autistic children in the past, I can assure you that the simple fact that some are living in homes that do not have a dad present has NO bearing on a child suffering from the horror of autism. I suppose his statements are the result of having his brains located in his penile tissue. What a pile of horse excrement!
I don’t know this guy, but it sure sounds like he is a sicko in many many ways. No wonder I don’t listen to talk radio at all anymore.
And if it is true what one of the writers said that he slept with other men, it just goes to show you how insidious the closet is to gay people. They are forced to rant against gays as a defense against coming out. Maybe we all, str8 and gay should be sympathetic to the guy, and realize that ending the closet and openly confronting and exposing the hate churches, and the poison they spill into our society, is the social justice calling of our times.
Michael Savage HAS a gay past. He slept with Beat generation poet Allen Ginsburg and a few others…google him.
He is a blot on humanity and the people that think he is reasonable or intelligent must suffer from the same illness he does – Mad Cow Disease.
Fact!
It would be sad if his saying something extremely vile about a group of people who aren’t gay people finally gets him off the air. He has a long track record of saying horrible, incendiary things about gay people, but he still has his radio show. Yet he’s still on the air. I boycott media outlets that broadcast his show, and advertisers that advertise on it (e.g., Vision Computers).
Savage,
Wonderful example of a “compassionate” conservative, Ha! Having gotten bored with gays, he now has to pick on kids with a disability, what a coward! Pick on someone your own size, Savage!!!!
This man should be fired. No one should be allowed to spew ignorant statements that are factually false and that cause such emotional harm to others! He is a bigot!