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Asian American groups accuse Bill Handel of racism

Just issue a statement: "We hear your concerns. And program director Robin Bertolucci is no longer with the station."

Problem solved.
 
Well, Handel and his brother are not exactly model citizens in terms of normal behavior Bill seems to have a history of such commentary, all under the guise of parody or being over the top, but in my experience if a person consistently makes these kinds of remarks, then it confirms their beliefs. But I don't personally know Bill, so perhaps his real personality is one of high empathy and generosity.

I avoid Bill and his morning show - but admit until a year or so ago, enjoyed his Handel on the Law Saturday show - but Bill's ability to listen and comprehend the situations presented by the callers has clearly slipped - .
 
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To those that seek to rely on the "but this is a real thing" - is it not accurate every culture has something For example, we could crack various tropes about Jews because there are some Jews where "that is a real thing". What could we expect the reaction to be from that group?

In terms of dog meat, it is my understanding it was never a significant part of any diet in that country's history. By 2019, there was no to very fewpublic places that served it, and before that time the number of places that did was inconsequential. In addition, persons that are practicing Buddhists would not consume any type of meat. And lastly, the country passed a law in 2024 that bans this within three years - the facts are the vast majority of the population are opposed to the practice.

I don't want to be "that guy" but the reality is it low to take the worst practices of a culture and run jokes with it on the public airwaves. And for Handel, he has a pattern here - all one has to do is a google search. It is behavior that is either lazy or racist, and I'm sure that Bill does not believe he is lazy.
 
FledSoCal said:
I avoid Bill and his morning show - but admit until a year or so ago, enjoyed his Handel on the Law Saturday show - but Bill's ability to listen and comprehend the situations presented by the callers has clearly slipped - .
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To be fair, some of the callers to that show couldn't tell a coherent story for a million dollars. The amount of people who don't know that there's a difference between a will and a trust despite "loving Bill and the show" constantly astounds me.
 
FledSoCal said:
To those that seek to rely on the "but this is a real thing" - is it not accurate every culture has something For example, we could crack various tropes about Jews because there are some Jews where "that is a real thing". What could we expect the reaction to be from that group?

In terms of dog meat, it is my understanding it was never a significant part of any diet in that country's history. By 2019, there was no to very fewpublic places that served it, and before that time the number of places that did was inconsequential. In addition, persons that are practicing Buddhists would not consume any type of meat. And lastly, the country passed a law in 2024 that bans this within three years - the facts are the vast majority of the population are opposed to the practice.

I don't want to be "that guy" but the reality is it low to take the worst practices of a culture and run jokes with it on the public airwaves. And for Handel, he has a pattern here - all one has to do is a google search. It is behavior that is either lazy or racist, and I'm sure that Bill does not believe he is lazy.
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Actually, he is quite proud and vocal about how lazy he is and why he gets a level of support and hand holding that no other host requires.
 
FledSoCal said:
In terms of dog meat, it is my understanding it was never a significant part of any diet in that country's history. By 2019, there was no to very fewpublic places that served it, and before that time the number of places that did was inconsequential. In addition, persons that are practicing Buddhists would not consume any type of meat. And lastly, the country passed a law in 2024 that bans this within three years - the facts are the vast majority of the population are opposed to the practice.
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Yet there is a historical practice of consuming dog meat.

Some decades ago, I had a friend who worked at the U.S. Embassy in Ecuador. She had previously been at the U.S. Embassy in Korea. Here is her story, paraphrased by me:

She went to one of the open markets to buy groceries, and saw a stand where "cute little puppies" were being sold. She decided she wanted one of those dogs as a pet, and negotiated a price with the stand owner. She asked him to hold the dog she had picked while she did the rest of her shopping.

She came back to the stand, and the attendant handed her the dog... sliced and skinned in a wrapper.

She said she cried for days, and that the single incident made her ask for a short stay in Korea.

Yes, they ate dogs.

Online there are many reports of how the government would require the sale of dog meat and its inclusion on restaurant menus to be stopped during international events like the 1988 Olympics.
 
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FledSoCal said:
I avoid Bill and his morning show - but admit until a year or so ago, enjoyed his Handel on the Law Saturday show - but Bill's ability to listen and comprehend the situations presented by the callers has clearly slipped - .
Click to expand...

I noticed that too. Sometimes I think he's not really paying attention. Sometimes I think he's toying with the callers. He has no patience with someone who doesn't get to the point. Sometimes that is funny but it often means he's missing parts of the story that the rest of us heard.

He's 73 and doing six shows a week, five in morning drive for KFI and another for national syndication. He used to do it live on KFI on Saturday mornings and staffers would take those segments for the national show. But I don't think he comes in on Saturdays anymore. I guess he does it after his regular show, with his producer calling back folks who called in earlier.
 
The most recent comments mentioned in the statement were on October 3rd. Why wait 2+ months to issue a statement demanding an apology.

These jokes aren’t new, they’ve been going on since before KFI moved from of Koreatown.

Do they no longer issue a long list of apologies at the end of every show? I know for a while Michelle Kube used to.
 
DavidEduardo said:
Yet there is a historical practice of consuming dog meat.

Some decades ago, I had a friend who worked at the U.S. Embassy in Ecuador. She had previously been at the U.S. Embassy in Korea. Here is her story, paraphrased by me:

She went to one of the open markets to buy groceries, and saw a stand where "cute little puppies" were being sold. She decided she wanted one of those dogs as a pet, and negotiated a price with the stand owner. She asked him to hold the dog she had picked while she did the rest of her shopping.

She came back to the stand, and the attendant handed her the dog... sliced and skinned in a wrapper.

She said she cried for days, and that the single incident made her ask for a short stay in Korea.

Yes, they ate dogs.

Online there are many reports of how the government would require the sale of dog meat and its inclusion on restaurant menus to be stopped during international events like the 1988 Olympics.
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this is a complete garbage take - like i stated, one could isolate any culture and say something. but bill somehow enjoys mocking asians - that is his thing, because he has issues best known and understood by him.
 
BoboKnight said:
The most recent comments mentioned in the statement were on October 3rd. Why wait 2+ months to issue a statement demanding an apology.

These jokes aren’t new, they’ve been going on since before KFI moved from of Koreatown.

Do they no longer issue a long list of apologies at the end of every show? I know for a while Michelle Kube used to.
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"jokes" to some, but not to most. and frankly no reasonable person would believe an apology is the proper step. maybe conform to norms that just about any other station adhere to would suffice.
 
radiofan2023 said:
To be fair, some of the callers to that show couldn't tell a coherent story for a million dollars. The amount of people who don't know that there's a difference between a will and a trust despite "loving Bill and the show" constantly astounds me.
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That's the job of the call screener...
 
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