Armenian National Committee – Western Region
104 N. Belmont Street, Suite #200
Fax. (818) 246-7353 * Email [email protected]
June 11, 2009
KFI APOLOGIZES FOR GENOCIDE COMMENT
Tune in KFI 640 AM on Friday morning, June 12th
at 6:30am PDT to hear On-Air Apology
Glendale, CA — The Armenian National Committee-Western Region
(ANC-WR), joined by community organizations and activists, met with
KFI640-AM radio show host Bill Handel and station management today
regarding offensive comments that aired on Handel’s radio show on May
13 and 14 during a discussion between Handel and Lara Hermanson.
Acknowledging that a line had been crossed, Handel, KFI and Clear
Channel management apologized to the Armenian American community. With
Handel himself being a descendent of Holocaust survivors, he also made
it clear that recognition of the Armenian Genocide is something he has
been aware of and passionate about throughout his career and promised
to continue raising awareness about the issue.
"We deeply regret the inappropriate comments that were made on
Bill Handel’s show last month which deeply hurt the Armenian American
community. The comments were wrong," said Robin Bertolucci, KFI
Program Director. "We take responsibility for this offense as any
genocide, including the Armenian Genocide, are serious topics that
should not be used as the basis for humor." KFI will be issuing an
on-air apology on June 12 at 6:30am. KFI also released a video apology
from Hermanson and Handel.
Click here to watch the video apology:
OPCKQWUUH/3474862986
The issue began on May 13th, during the late morning segment of the
show when Handel made an off- hand comment to "get rid of the
Armenians," as well as other groups, as a humorous solution to the
cost of healthcare in America. Greg Garabedian a local listener who
heard the comment wrote to the station to express his concern and
disappointment with the remark. However, in responding to the letter on
the air the following day, the situation was made worse when studio
colleague Lara Hermanson quipped, "what the Turks started, Bill
will finish." The statement referenced the Armenian Genocide and
outraged the Armenian American community.
"I wrote the letter because that comment immediately drew me to
the Armenian Genocide and my family’s experience," said
Garabedian. "For me, here was another situation where Armenians
were being used in the context of a joke, but on an issue that is of
extreme importance to the community."
The ANC-WR requested a meeting with KFI management to convey the
community’s outrage and ask that the situation be addressed. In the
meantime, the ANC-WR reached out to dozens of activists and community
organizations, such as the Armenian Bar Association, eager to work
together on the issue.
"Today’s meeting with Bill Handel and KFI-640AM and Clear Channel
management made it clear that genocide is not a joking matter,"
said Zanku Armenian, member of the ANC-WR’s KFI Task Force.
"Handel and station management recognized that a very serious line
was crossed in a poor attempt at humor and are truly apologetic for the
pain they have caused to the Armenian American community. In addition
to their apology, the meeting led to a constructive discussion about
the importance of educating the public about the Armenian Genocide.
This is a positive outcome to a very unfortunate incident."
In addition to Bill Handel, present at the meeting were Program
Director Robin Burtolucci, Director of Marketing Neil Saavedra as well
as Greg Ashlock, President and Market Manager of Clear Channel, Los
Angeles which is KFI’s parent company. Joining the ANC-WR for the
meeting at the KFI studios in Burbank were representatives from the
Armenian Youth Federation, Unified Young Armenians, the ANC Glendale,
and Glendale City Council Member Ara Najarian.
"Of course the comments on May 13th particularly conjure up the
emotions tied to the Armenian Genocide, but the May 14th show was an
opportunity to take a step back and address this problem but instead
bolstered our interpretation of the first day’s comments," says
Vache Thomassian, Chairman of the Armenian Youth Federation-Western
Region.
In the days following the incident, the community learned about it
through the efforts of Greg Garabedian and others such as Burbank
resident and columnist for Asbarez Daily Newspaper, Garen Yegparian who
wrote about the matter in his May 22nd commentary. As KFI was slow to
address the matter, news about the incident and the inappropriate
comment spread rapidly throughout the community spurring chain e-mails,
online petitions, and even a group on the popular social networking
site Facebook.
"Genocide is not a joking matter and this issue should have been
addressed from day one. However, this episode showed us that our
community is alert and ready to take action to counter such inexcusable
comments," notes Aroutin Hartounian, President of Unified Young
Armenians.
The positive outcome was a result of many community organizations and
supporters working together. "The message was heard thanks to the
efforts of thousands of community activists and other organizations who
voiced their indignation over the past several weeks," said Stepan
Boyajian, chairman of the ANC-WR KFI Task Force. "We deeply
appreciate everyone’s efforts."
The complete transcript of Hermanson and Handel’s video apology is
provided below.
—————————————— ———————-
Transcript:
Lara Hermanson-
"Hi, my name is Lara Hermanson. I’m the board op on the Bill
Handel show. And I want to apologize for something that happened a
couple of weeks back. I regret that I took so long to apologize for
this but during the course of conversation I made a really hurtful
remark about the Armenian genocide. It was meant to be satirical but I
know that as it stood, it didn’t come off that way. It came off as
hurtful and I really regret this comment. And I appreciate our Armenian
listeners sharing with me their feelings about this and I’m really glad
that I get the opportunity to apologize for it. I feel horrible for the
comment and once again I’m really, really sorry."
Bill Handel-
"Hi. I’m Bill Handel and you just heard our board operator on the
morning show apologize for a comment that simply shouldn’t have been
made, that clearly went over the line. And this is the Bill Handel
Show, it has my name on it, and inevitably the buck stops here. We
should have, I should have, cleared that up within a couple of days, if
not the following day, and it simply wasn’t done. But more importantly
than that, I want to point out something that has been part of my
entire broadcast career, frankly part of my entire life, I have always
been fanatic about not forgetting the Armenian genocide. I have been a
champion of never ever letting that be forgotten in history. My
grandparents perished in the Jewish holocaust. My dad is a Holocaust
survivor so I’m particularly sensitive to this issue. And if you ever
listened to my show, now or 20 years ago, it has never changed, I
always will, I always have, been a champion of the fact that we can
never forget, ever."