That's what happens when something "hits too close to home". O&A have gone over it so many times on the show. You can laugh at the mush mouth callers and the deaf news lady clips all day and call it funny radio, but if you have someone close to you with DS or some other defect and they bag on them, you take offense. It's human nature.

Be as offended as you want, but as soon as you try to take someone else's livelihood away from them, then you cross a line. We saw it with Michael Richards and the "nigger nigger nigger" clip at the Laugh Factory. We saw it with Don Imus and the "nappy headed hoes" bit on his show. Tracy Morgan and the lesbian and anti-gay comments. Someone decided they were offended and claimed they were somehow violated and it cost them their gig in one form or another.

I read Alex's side of the story, and what he SHOULD have done is call up the radio show and give the DJ a verbal beating. If Mo wouldn't take the call, then he would have been throwing away a HUGE opportunity at ratings. Sit there and take some verbal abuse? Hell, that would have made the rounds at YouTube for weeks!

Maybe so, but that didn't happen, man. Alex didn't call the station. Instead, he called the news. Then he called the station and asked for the complete show, which they were given.

Extremely. I was screaming at the radio today. Who the fuck does that cunt think she is? William Randolph Hearst.

http://kelliesstory.wordpress.com/2013/01/29/my-sister-was-bullied-by-a-radio-dj-transcript-included/

Reading the comments is giving me brain cancer

after reading the article, it's clear the DJ is a mo

still waiting on the anchor to call O&A?

The woman will say "They say there's no bad publicity, but I don't want to appear on O&A" and the guy will say "I'll take the family's circlejerkery over the DJs shockjockery any day of the week."

exactly

I received an email from that station manager today in my inbox. I too, was upset about this incident when it occurred. I had taken the time to send the station manager my thoughts about this DJ Mo. The station manager was very arrogant and condescending in his reply: "This incident happened over a month ago. Youis did not hear the call (as if he is unaware of YouTube or the internet). No one has or will be fired!. His email is themoradioshow@gmail.

Incidentally, does anyone remember a show O&A did in 2005 about this Hallmark Original Movie where Rosie O Donnell played a retard called "Riding the Bus with my Sister"? Still one of my favorite shows.

It was May 2nd, 2005 if anyone wants to dig through their archives.

Glad they talked about it again today. It's a story that should really get out there.

The clip should have never been aired because she was unaware she called a radio station, and made that clear. The guy was a jerk and treated her poorly, then decided to air, re-air, and ridicule her. Regardless of the reasoning behind the way she spoke, I would still be appalled at that treatment.

I don't know that Mo should be fired, but he and the station should be fined and he absolutely should apologize to Kellie, her family, and the public, not because America is a "sissy nation", but because he was intentionally belittling and harassing an innocent person who was very hurt and embarrassed.

What is so hard about being a decent human being?

He didn't realize he was dealing with someone who he would need to treat with kid gloves. What, you think we should go through life, just assuming everyone's potentially a retard?

So in your eyes, there is no problem when who admitted they had no idea they called a wrong number is ridiculed for whatever reason? Repeatedly. He never had to air the call, they said the call was not taken live, so it was intentional.

That's not "kid gloves". It's human decency.

Ridiculed? No. Stop bullshitting. He was as safe as he could be. If he wanted to ridicule her, he could have been really rude. And if he knew she had DS, he could REALLLY give her some shit. Honestly, I don't believe the report that the call was not taken live. THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS A PRE-TAPED CALL-IN SHOW! Human decency would not be attacking this dudes livelihood for doing something that, if he was talking to someone of normal brain-chemistry, would not be considered offensive at all. Try again, numbskull.

dude...grow up. stop being offended at everything. She called a live radio station and got screwed with, she'll live.

The clip should have never been aired because she was unaware she called a radio station

That is only valid if THEY called HER. She made an unsolicited call to an on-air number, I believe that is fair game to air the call live.

The guy was a jerk and treated her poorly, then decided to air, re-air, and ridicule her.

He asked her for clarification because he couldn't understand her. If you can't understand someone, and asking them for clarification is "treating them poorly", then how can you treat them nicely? Pretend you understand and give them false information? That doesn't make much sense...

Regardless of the reasoning behind the way she spoke, I would still be appalled at that treatment.

What if the reasoning was someone trying to prank the radio station/DJ? Would you be appalled then? I assure you, people calling up to try to prank a jock outweighs people with a disability mistakenly calling a radio station around 100:1.

I don't know that Mo should be fired

He shouldn't. Well, not for this at least. He sounds like an awful jock but there's a market for that so that isn't fire-able.

but he and the station should be fined

Fined for what? And by whom? Asking someone "what did you say" isn't fineable. Keeping someone on the line when you have no reasonable way of knowing that they have a disability isn't fineable.

and he absolutely should apologize to Kellie

Agreed. It's the nice thing to do. He made an honest mistake, but he should certainly call her up and say he's sorry because it's the right thing to do.

her family,

NOPE

and the public,

NOPE

not because America is a "sissy nation",

It is.

but because he was intentionally belittling and harassing an innocent person who was very hurt and embarrassed.

If he knew that she had a disability, I'd be inclined to agree with you, but he didn't. SHE called HIM, unprovoked and out of the blue. That's not intentional on his part and it certainly isn't harassment. He didn't even say anything mean or derogatory, he just asked for clarification because he legit didn't understand what was going on.

And as far as he "should" apologize to Kellie, he already did. So did the station. Several times.

Again, it sounds like we disagree on what is considered right or decent. Call me what you'd like, but I believe people should be more decent, regardless of the reasoning behind how she sounded. I'd still find it offensive if she was foreign, deaf, or any other reason.

You have every right to disagree with me, but I think people should treat each other with more respect. To me, his bit wasn't humorous, but that's in the eye of the beholder as well.

Voicing my personal opinion. Again, I agree he should NOT be fired, the fines would come from the FCC based on their policies. I think this has been blown out of proportion, but YES he was in the wrong.

I don't really think he was trying to make fun of any group, deaf, immigrant, or retard. If he had any way of knowing the caller was any of those things, he wasn't going to go and fuck with them. I can't really see any way he wouldn't have ended up looking like a heel to people like you unless he said "Jee, I'm a psychic, so I know you're of abnormal intelligence. I'm going to let you go now, sweetie. You're so brave and strong. Everyone loves you!" Then hung up and went on about how tough DS sufferers have it today for an hour.

Maybe he was just very ignorant and had no bad intentions. One of the reasons I agree he shouldn't be fired.

Regardless of all that, his words and actions were offensive. You may not think that, but many, many people did. If he's already apologized, then great. Hopefully the situation will calm down and everyone can get back to life. We all make mistakes, be it dialing a wrong number or making a questionable judgement on something. Live and learn from it.

How do you make it through the day without crying? Sensitivity is good, oversensitivity is sucking the fun out of everything.

He didn't do anything worthy of any punishment. What statement, particularly, di you find offensive?

This is a fucking travesty. Holy shit this is worse than the holocaust, slavery and sandy hook combined. Is there a Downsy Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson we could call? Jesus Christ. Listen to the actual tape again. Not the dogs shit sensationalist yellow journalism that the news aired and recut. He asks if she is foreign or has a speech impediment. It never even crossed his mind that she had downs, she was impossible to understand. And she called him. Not the other way around. So this guy should be fired and fined for taking a call from a person who sounds weird for good ratings. That's a hell of a lot less terrible than recutting a story to destroy a man's career and reputation. And the news station is one exploiting your friends daughter's disability for ratings. Not Mo. The news could give a fuck. And the fact that he lawyered up immediately is just called being smart and damage control. Go ahead and fucking crucify this guy along with Imus and Kramer. What a joke.

That's not at all what I said. I agree the DJ should NOT be fired, as I said in my comment. My point was what he did was wrong and he should apologize. The fine would come from the FCC and be warranted based on their policies.

Oh, yes, the classic FCC violation regarding treating everyone the same.

Lol yep, that one.

I get why you disagree with me, and that's fine. It sounds like we agree on the biggest issue, that Mo shouldn't be fired.

Was it a crappy thing to do? I think so, you don't, and that's fine.

It is shitty that this guy might lose everything he's worked for because of this, that I agree on. He made a poor call, but that doesn't mean he needs to be fired, just handled according to thy situation (which is horrible for that girl and her family, but not so horrible that it'd be career-ending).

Again, don't see how it's so horrible for them. If he called her a fucking retard, maybe. But he didn't.