Thread: Hispanic protest fails to silence 'Jersey Guys'

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Hispanic protest fails to silence 'Jersey Guys'
Saturday, April 14, 2007

Weeks after 101.5 FM's "Jersey Guys" were assailed for launching a campaign that many Hispanics considered bigoted against them, little has happened.

The lack of outcry, Hispanics say, is particularly stark when compared with the high-profile protests that led to the firing of radio icon Don Imus this week.

Assemblyman Wilfredo Caraballo, who led the protest, said the public rebuke has fallen far short of what he sought, and the hosts refuse to apologize and stop the campaign.

Last month many Hispanic leaders attacked the "Jersey Guys" for a campaign that urged listeners to turn illegal immigrants in to federal authorities.

The leaders demanded an apology and said the campaign offended all Hispanics, pointing to its title -- La Cucha Gotcha, a play on the Spanish word for cockroach -- and such songs as "La Bamba" playing in the background.

In March, host Craig Carton said his campaign targets illegal immigrants, no matter their ethnicity. Attempts to reach the hosts Friday were unsuccessful.

Carballo, D-Newark, who led the protest against Carton and co-host Ray Rossi, said there have been a few successes. He said state officials have vowed not to continue Department of Environmental Protection commercials on the show, and that AT&T was pulling its sponsorship. Efforts to get confirmation about both commercials failed.

Hispanics have watched the condemnation of Imus' racist and sexist remarks about the Rutgers women's basketball team with some frustration. Imus apologized publicly, advertisers abandoned him and CBS and MSNBC both fired him.

"We have no one to blame more than ourselves for the lack of consequences that faced the 'Jersey Guys,' " said Daniel Jara, president of the Statewide Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey. "We're not as united as African-Americans. We're too mired in our own internal rivalries, and we haven't learned to put aside differences or petty dislikes of certain individuals and push ahead as one community behind one cause."

Carballo said the Hispanic community has not fully grasped the harm of the radio campaign.

"What the 'Jersey Guys' did was couch their attack on Hispanics in an issue that concerns a lot of people -- illegal immigration. Their insult of Hispanics wasn't with the kind of hurtful words that Imus used."

Assemblyman Wilfredo Caraballo, who led the protest, said the public rebuke has fallen far short of what he sought, and the hosts refuse to apologize and stop the campaign.

Tough cookies Wilfredo

Carballo, D-Newark, who led the protest against Carton and co-host Ray Rossi,

Carballo, I think you HATE ITALIANS!!

Are you racist against ITALIANS??

I sure think so and I think you should be kicked out of the legislature!

New Jersians UNITE!...........get that racist, Italian hater CARBALLO, out of the legislature!!

After that "WOP" remark by that racist hernandez, we can begin to see a pattern emerging!!

Any body that calls someone a racist or a bigot for standing up and demanding our laws be enforced in this great country should have their citizenship taken away and deported with the lawbreakers!!

Wilfredo every official who refuses to enforce our laws is not upholding their oath of office and should be removed immediately if not sooner.

I love it! Can't keep those Jersey Guys down!

Originally Posted by Hylander_1314

I love it! Can't keep those Jersey Guys down!

News Flash, HY.........

LOL, can't keep us Jersey Girls down either!!

Yep, so true!

Tough crowd, tough crowd! You'se guys, and girls know how to kick up your heels and have a great time too!

Il dio benedice i tipi della Jersey ed i galloni

Originally Posted by Hylander_1314

Yep, so true!

Tough crowd, tough crowd! You'se guys, and girls know how to kick up your heels and have a great time too!

YUP!

Originally Posted by 2ndamendsis

Originally Posted by Hylander_1314

Yep, so true!

Tough crowd, tough crowd! You'se guys, and girls know how to kick up your heels and have a great time too!

YUP!

LOL SIS, Those smiles are to cute!!!