[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 56 (Thursday, April 22, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Page S4099]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     BEYOND THE BOUNDS OF PROPRIETY

  Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, in the past several months when radio 
personalities--sometimes known as ``shock jocks''--have gone beyond the 
bounds of propriety, their employers have been quick to dismiss them.
  For example, the Charlotte, NC, station just yesterday fired a radio 
talk show host who made an on-the-air joke about this week's tragedy in 
Littleton, CO. There was also a Washington, DC, station that 
immediately fired the ``Greaseman'' for his racist remarks after the 
tragic dragging death of a Texas man that we all remember.
  Now in Chicago we learn of another one of these offensive on-the-air 
personalities who has stepped over the line. He made insulting remarks 
against Special Olympians. What he said about these brave athletes is 
indefensible. What he said was--and it bothers me even to repeat it--

       Watch them run, watch them fall, watch them try to catch a 
     ball. Olympics, Special Olympics. Watch them laugh, watch 
     them drool, watch them fall into the pool. That's diving at 
     the Special Olympics. And I know full well that I will burn 
     in Hell, but those guys playing wheelchair basketball gotta 
     be about the funniest--

  And the expletive is deleted; they took that out--

     thing I've ever seen in my life. [And it is all] at the 
     Special Olympics.

  Mr. President, these young men and women have overcome obstacles that 
we cannot understand. They deserve our applause and admiration. They 
should not be the targets of juvenile jokes on the public airwaves.
  Instead, despite this disgusting display of ill-manners and bad 
taste, this radio station has refused to fire that shock jock.
  Mr. President, I urge all of those who listen to this man in Chicago 
to call for his immediate dismissal.
  I yield the floor.

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