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Washington, DC – Congressman Michael Honda (CA-15), Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), issued the following statement today regarding a recent segment of CBS Radio’s "The Dog House with JV & Elvis," that involved a prank call to a Chinese restaurant:
"The prank call made by radio personalities JV and Elvis to a Chinese restaurant perpetuated dangerous sexualized racist stereotypes about Asian Americans and showed insensitivity to the immigrant experience. In the segment, the caller, with a computerized voice, asked the restaurant’s female employee, 'Should I come to your restaurant so that I can see you naked? . . . That way, I can see your hot Asian spicy *ss.' He told another employee, 'I need shrimp flied lice' and 'some old dung.' The caller said to this male employee, 'Chinese man, tell me about your tiny egg roll . . . your tiny egg roll in your pants.' The radio hosts ended the call with: 'Tell the hot Asian girl that answered the telephone, I would like to tap her *ss.'
"The segment first aired on April 5 – only one day after Don Imus referred to the Scarlet Knights, the Rutgers University women’s basketball team, as 'nappy-headed hos.' What is outrageous is that after CBS rightly fired Don Imus on April 12, the segment was aired again on April 19.
"Currently CBS Radio's sanction, suspension of the radio co-hosts, is a mere slap on the wrist. Mainstream networks should understand the wide influence they wield, and take responsibility to combat rather than perpetuate racial and sexual stereotypes. I call for an apology by CBS and CBS Radio and the immediate firing of JV and Elvis and the show’s producer." |
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