Taking Action Against Offensive TV Show that Continues to Air Anti-Gay Language

Taking Action Against Offensive TV Show that Continues to Air Anti-Gay Language

Today, GLAAD and the National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC) stood with members of Latino  community service and advocacy organization Bienestar at a press conference outside of Liberman Broadcasting, Inc. (LBI) to deliver thousands of signatures about its show 'José Luis Sin Censura," which, despite promises to take the show off the air, continues to run its violent and offensive content during the daytime, unaltered. Click here for a timeline overview of the year-plus long campaign.

In fact, as recently as May 30, despite commitments from LBI to clean up the show and to take it off the air, episodes aired in which audiences chanted “puta" ("Whore! Whore! Whore!") at a female guest and "“puto! puto! puto!” (or "f*ggot") at a man they thought to be gay; the terms “puñal,” “maricón” and “joto” (or "f*ggot") were also used.  For photos of the Change.org petition delivery visit: http://flickr.com/glaad

Today the organizations also announced that that they will be contacting advertisers like AT&T and Time Warner Cable, both of which pulled their support for José Luis Sin Censura last year, as well as McDonald’s and Dish Latino, to pull their support from the program.

Today's announcements follow a joint formal FCC complaint filed last year and a meeting yesterday between GLAAD, NHMC and Rocky Delgadillo, former City Attorney for Los Angeles and counsel to LBI. On the call, Mr. Delgadillo revealed that LBI would stop airing the show on owned and operated stations in late September, and he also stated that advertiser support was preventing LBI from pulling the show any sooner.

But these statements were strikingly similar to those he had made on behalf of LBI when he met with GLAAD and NHMC over six months ago, as well as those of LBI executives made more than a year ago during a meeting with GLAAD and NHMC, that promised the show would be taken off the air. These commitments were not honored.

In a time of growing violence against women and LGBT people, José Luis Sin Censura and LBI are sending a horrible message to society.

An overview of the year-plus long campaign by GLAAD and NHMC:

On June 17, 2011, GLAAD and NHMC met with the principals of Liberman Broadcasting, Inc.: Chair José Liberman; his son, President and CEO Lenard Liberman; and Chief Operating Officer, Winter Horton. The Libermans own EstrellaTV Network and a number of broadcast stations across the country that air EstrellaTV, including its Los Angeles-based flagship KRCA. While representatives from LBI offered an apology for anti-LGBT content that aired on the show, they did not take immediate action, had no response to other issues raised by GLAAD and NHMC concerning the use of anti-Latino slurs or misogynistic content, and offered no proposals for how to rectify this situation.In June 2011, national advertisers including AT&T and Time Warner Cable as well as affiliate stations in Miami, Florida and Wichita, Kansas pulled support for the program.In April 2011, more than 30 organizations including the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the Southern Poverty Law Center, United Church of Christ, and the Women’s Media Center, sent a letter to the FCC, urging swift action. On February 28, 2011, GLAAD and NHMC filed the original FCC complaint demonstrating that KRCA (and all of the stations that air "José Luis Sin Censura") are in violation of federal law. The complaint documented over twenty episodes that aired between June 18 and December 7, 2010, which contains images and language of the nature that is never displayed or is bleeped out of pre-taped English-language programs of the same nature, including the words  "pinche" ("f*cking" in English) and "culero" ("assf*cker"), anti-gay language, including epithets such as "puto," "maricón," "joto" and "puñal" (or "f*ggot"), anti-Latino slurs, such as "mojado" ("wetback"), and anti-female terms such as "piruja" and  "puta" ("whore"). The program frequently features blatant nudity and female guests have been shown in violent fights. Guests and audience members are often incited to engage in verbal and physical attacks. Many episodes show the audience standing and shouting anti-gay epithets and profanity at guests.

For more information, including past videos and letters of support, please visit: http://www.glaad.org/jlsc.

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