BY DAN
KENNEDY
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Monday, April 26, 2004
SEVERIN DENIES CHARGES. I
just listened to Jay Severin's opening monologue on WTKK Radio (96.9
FM). Severin addressed the claim
made by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) that he had
said on his show last Thursday, "I've got an idea, let's kill all
Muslims." Severin denied ever having said such a thing, blasted the
Boston Globe for reporting CAIR's charges without contacting
him first, but nevertheless expressed "regret" to anyone who was
offended by his remarks.
Calling it "a big story about
imagined hate speech," Severin said, "If we were to make a tape of
it, I could find maybe 1000 recordings ... with my saying the
following words: all Muslims are not terrorists, all Muslims are not
our enemies. But, so far, all the terrorists killing us are Muslims."
He referred to Boston Globe columnist Jeff
Jacoby's Sunday piece on
Arab and Muslim hatred toward the United States, and to a
front-page
story in today's New
York Times headlined "Militants in Europe Openly Call for Jihad
and the Rule of Islam."
Severin said that his remark about
killing Muslims came in response to a caller who advocated peaceful
relations with those elements of the Islamic world that hate the US. "When he said to me, 'I think we
should be befriend them,' I said, 'I have a different notion, a
different policy. I think we should kill them,'" Severin said today.
He added: "I certainly regret any misunderstanding. I certainly
regret any discomfort that may have been caused by the
misunderstanding of my remarks." But he said that he has been "very
clear, very contextual, very consistent" in saying that the US should
kill its Muslim enemies - not that it should kill all
Muslims.
"My remarks were not taken out of
context. Someone made up my remarks," Severin said. He charged that
CAIR simply took what a listener had e-mailed to the organization and
wrote up a press release demanding that Severin be fired. "Those
words were never uttered by me. Not off the air, not on the air, not
ever. Never uttered by me," he said, calling CAIR's characterization
"100 percent false. A fantasy, a fabrication, totally made
up."
Severin also accused the
Globe of not checking with him before going to press. (The
Globe's story was published on Sunday, not Saturday, as I
mistakenly reported earlier today.) He said someone at the
Globe told him today that the reporter, Jessica Bennett, had
tried to reach him and failed. But Severin said, "I'm in a 24/7
business. Everyone knows how to contact me."
He added: "My statements weren't
taken out of context. My statements were made up, and then printed by
the Boston Globe. Now, I wish to repeat that I'm not here to offend
anyone. [Media Log aside: Hah!] I'm here to provoke
thought, I'm here to express opinion."
A few off-the-cuff
observations:
- A couple of quibbles aside, I
basically believe Severin. I am thoroughly disgusted by his referring
to Arabs and Muslims as "towelheads," by his suggestions that the US
should nuke its enemies, and by his advocacy of scorched-earth
tactics in Iraq. But I listen to him enough to know that it's not
credible to imagine he would suddenly call for the deaths of "all"
Muslims. He's always been clear that he wants us to kill Islamist
terrorists who are trying to kill us. And, of course, we
should.
- Severin refers to the
Globe as "a ridiculously irresponsible major newspaper" for
going to print without first contacting him. But according to
Bennett's story, she did contact the station's general
manager, Matt Mills, who reportedly declined to comment. She also
refers to Severin's remarks as "alleged," which does qualify things a
bit. CAIR had put out a press
release on the wires the
day before the Globe story ran. Assuming that Bennett
genuinely attempted to reach Severin and couldn't, her and the
paper's choice was either to run with what they had or hold it. Maybe
they could have waited another day, but I don't think the decision
they made was wrong.
- Severin makes no reference to an
e-mail that Mills supposedly sent to CAIR in which he said: "I have
spoken to Jay Severin and he knows we take this seriously and do not
condone offensive remarks toward any religious groups and he will be
apologizing on his show Monday afternoon. He did not intend to offend
anyone." Maybe Mills will now claim that he never sent any such
e-mail. But assuming that he did, it sounds like Mills was upset with
his star talk-show host. Severin should have talked about that rather
than blaming everything on CAIR and the Globe.
Maybe he will later this afternoon.
Unfortunately, I won't be listening, because I'm on deadline with
other matters.
posted at 4:00 PM |
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MEDIA LOG ARCHIVES
Dan Kennedy is senior writer and media critic for the Boston Phoenix.
