Arizona radio host calls president a ‘monkey’
Jun 20, 2012, 11:25 AM | Updated: 1:22 pm
Phoenix radio host Barbara Espinosa was talking about
President Barack Obama with a caller on a recent show when she referred to the
president as a “monkey” and made it clear why she voted
for John McCain.
“I call him a monkey, I don’t call him a guy with rabbit
ears, I call him a monkey,” Espinosa said.
She didn’t stop there.
“And I don’t believe in calling him the first black
president,” she said. “I voted for the white guy myself.”
According to multiple websites, Espinosa released a
statement confirming her remarks. The link
now leads to a page that reads, “Sorry, the page you were
looking for in this blog does not exist.”
Until a month ago, Espinosa hosted a show on KFNX. The station released a statement disavowing Espinosa’s views.
“KFNX received your email. Barbara Espinosa does not host a show anymore on KFNX 1100, so the information is dated. She has not aired a show at KFNX for nearly a month. She currently hosts an internet show on Blogtalk radio to the best of our knowledge.
KFNX management, staff and sponsors do not endorse or agree with her viewpoints. Ms. Espinoza (like all KFNX Hosts) does have the First Amendment Right to say what she believes, but KFNX Host Contracts includes a clause which prohibits on-air slander of people.
KFNX no longer has a relationship with Ms. Espinosa, and again certainly does not support her comments. If those comments were made on KFNX, we would have terminated our relationship with her. We certainly apologize for our former relationship with Ms. Espinosa and are deeply sorry she said offensives things.
We do not know when the comments were made, but it is possible they were made in the past while airing on KFNX, or maybe could have been said on her current internet show on Blogtalk. We also do not know who posted the YouTube video. It is an edited video (and not dated) , so it is unclear what context the improper comments were made.
If you want more information, we suggest you contact Ms. Espinosa (or Blogtalk) directly regarding this.”
