A disc jockey in Austin, Texas was suspended Thursday after he attempted to joke about the recent politically incorrect comments made by Sen. Joe Biden about Sen. Barack Obama.
In January, Biden, D-Del., said that one of Obama's political attributes is that he is "clean." Host Bob Cole of KVET’s “Sam and Bob in the Morning” show reminded listeners Thursday that Biden had used the racially-insensitive word to describe Obama.
"He's clean is what what's-his-name said. Joe Biden told us that," Cole said.
"Clean darky," quipped host Sam Allred.
Cole immediately exclaimed, "Sammy!" The show then cut to commercial. After the break Allred said: "See, I was making fun of politicians who say things like that."
The local NAACP chapter didn’t see it that way. They plan to file a complaint over the remark, and are calling for Allred to apologize publicly.
"That kind of ignorance has no place in this country in 2007," Nelson Linder of the NAACP told KXAN TV. "When a black man runs for president, we ought to be proud of that."
Allred told KXAN that he will not apologize because he was within his rights.
"It's called the First Amendment," he said, "and you get the right to say anything." KVET issued a statement saying it is not the station's "intention to be offensive. ...We do not discriminate against individuals regardless of race, religion, gender age or sexual orientation."
