Disney Reverses Course on ‘Black Hoe’ Controversy

After initially dismissing its involvement in a radio promotion called “The Black Hoe,” Walt Disney Co. is now moving aggressively to rein in the mounting controversy.

Six weeks ago, Disney balked at demands from civil rights groups to issue an apology for airing a promotion on KLOS-FM’s “Mark & Brian Show” during which “Black Hoes”--black, plastic gardening tools--were distributed to listeners and advertisers last year. Disney also vowed to fight a pair of racial discrimination and harassment lawsuits filed against its ABC Inc. division by two black KLOS-FM employees.

But when black groups asked the Federal Communications Commission to revoke the station’s license and threatened to launch a national boycott, Disney quickly apologized. And after an internal review uncovered 11 years of complaints about barbs against Jews, Asians and blacks aired on the “Mark & Brian” show, the corporation began scrambling to quietly settle the lawsuits out of court, sources said.

Disney also dispatched ABC Chairman Robert Iger, one of Disney’s top executives, three weeks ago to the Los Angeles headquarters of the Congress of Racial Equality on Martin Luther King Boulevard, where he spent nearly two hours consulting with civil rights leaders on how to resolve their concerns. On Monday, the two top executives from ABC’s human resources department flew in from New York to CORE headquarters to consult with civil rights leaders on how to improve the company’s diversity and sensitivity training programs.

“The Black Hoe” brouhaha illustrates how Disney, a company obsessed with its image, sometimes fumbles in public relations. Only after its initial approach was ineffective did the corporation decided to move more aggressively.

Disney has yet to respond to the demands of CORE and other civil rights groups to fire KLOS-FM talk-show hosts Mark Thompson and Brian Phelps. CORE Vice President Sandra Moore said Monday, however, that Iger and other ABC executives have privately intimated that Thompson and Phelps might not be long for their jobs.

“When we asked Bob Iger what he intended to do about Mark and Brian, he told us he planned to handle the matter internally. So we’re just waiting and watching,” Moore said. “But we don’t intend to wait forever. The African American community certainly does not intend to enter the millennium with Mark and Brian on the air.”

ABC Denies Rumors of Personnel Changes

Iger declined to comment, as did Phelps and Thompson, but ABC spokeswoman Julie Hoover denied Monday that the company plans to dismiss the deejays, saying “Mark and Brian are remaining on the air.” Hoover also denied recent speculative reports in radio trade publications that KLOS-FM General Manager William Sommers, who is named a defendant in “The Black Hoe” litigation, will resign soon and be replaced by Howard Neal, a black broadcast veteran and former head of KFI-AM.

Hoover acknowledged that ABC conducted a “thorough” internal investigation of Thompson and Phelps’ history at KLOS-FM, which included long-standing complaints from the Anti-Defamation League about the duo’s portrayal of racial and ethnic groups.

The ADL said this week that Thompson and Phelps have demonstrated a pattern of mocking minorities dating back more than a decade and that the league’s complaints to KLOS-FM management have fallen on deaf ears. The ADL cited the airing of such terms as “Yid,” “Japs” and “Sambo” as well as comedy sketches such as “NYPD Jew,” which employed an array of anti-Semitic stereotypes ridiculing “the cop who is kosher.”

And before arriving at KLOS-FM, Thompson and Phelps were sued in 1987 by an African American sportscaster on an Alabama radio station about alleged disparaging racial remarks made on their show.

“There is a pattern of continuous offensive and potentially dangerous jokes here, and it’s gone unchecked,” said Amy Levy, associate director of the Pacific Southwest regional office of the ADL. “We have followed up with the station management about numerous complaints, and at no time have we been satisfied with their response. In fact, they’ve even told us that they’ve determined the programs not to be offensive.”

In response to Levy’s comments, ABC’s Hoover said the corporation was “open to talking to the ADL about their concerns, as we would be with any group in the community.”

Allegations More Than Racial Discrimination

The recent “Mark & Brian” controversy was triggered by lawsuits filed against Disney by KLOS Traffic Manager Judy Goodwin and KLOS Account Executive Carla Woodson, black employees who contend the radio station undertook the “Black Hoe” promotion with the “conscious aim and intent of providing racially offensive, sexually charged entertainment for its primarily white male listening audience and advertising clients.”

But racial discrimination and retaliation are not the only allegations leveled against KLOS in the litigation. The lawsuits also accuse the station’s management of regularly violating and manipulating FCC regulations and contend that there is a “significant volume of documentary evidence” to prove it.

Among other things, Goodwin’s suit contends that KLOS sales executives involved in “The Black Hoe” promotion demanded that she improperly alter station logs and contracts. According to the suit, at least one supervisor at the station also made business decisions that benefited his personal financial interests in violation of FCC regulations and Disney/ABC policy.

ABC spokeswoman Hoover denied the allegations, saying that “based on everything we know, there is no FCC rule that is even implicated, much less violated. Any charges of impropriety regarding the business practices of KLOS-FM are baseless and uninformed.”

FCC officials confirmed this week that the government had received a complaint from CORE asking to revoke KLOS-FM’s license for airing “The Black Hoe” promotion but said the commission needed to review audio tapes of the campaign and other information before deciding whether to schedule a hearing on the matter.