Update: Radio Host, Station, Apologize for Mocking Deaths of Muslims on Hajj

February 8, 2006

Source: Billboard Radio Monitor

http://billboardradiomonitor.com/radiomonitor/news/format/talk/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001994170

On February 8, 2006 the Billboard Radio Monitor reported, "After attracting world-wide attention, Clear Channel talk KFI Los Angeles morning man Bill Handel and Clear Channel have apologized to Muslims for comments Handel made on his Jan. 12 show. The Southern California office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) announced that Handel and the station have apologized for mocking the deaths of Muslims on Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca. Handel has also been reprimanded in writing by the station for his 'insensitive remarks'... At issue is a parody that Handel did on the same day of the stampede in which 350 people were killed. Handel imitated people screaming and then joked that the Muslims at the pilgrimage should use a helicopter to monitor pilgrimage traffic... 'KFI AM 640 does not condone making light of the deaths of people engaged in religious observances,' regional VP Greg Ashlock wrote in a letter to CAIR. 'On this particular program, we crossed the line in reporting the Hajj incident in an insensitive manner'... Handel also apologized on his show, saying while he regularly lampoons many different nationalities and religions, he realized that the parody was poorly timed. 'The wound was very fresh for a lot of Muslims and the comments were out of line and for that I am sorry,' he said."