Talk show hosts on LA radio station suspended for comments about Whitney Houston The USA Times

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Friday, May 25, 2012

Talk show hosts on LA radio station suspended for comments about Whitney Houston

(AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - A Los Angeles radio station has pulled two popular talk radio hosts off the air for comments they made about Whitney Houston.

KFI AM 640 suspended John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou, the hosts of the "John and Ken Show," for "making insensitive and inappropriate comments about the late Whitney Houston," it said in a statement Thursday.

"Management does not condone, support or tolerate statements of this kind," the station said.

According to audio posted online at UrbanInformer.com, the hosts called the late singer a "crack ho" and said she was "cracked out for 20 years."

Kobylt said in statement that he and Chiampou "used language that was inappropriate" and they "sincerely apologize" to their listeners and to Houston's family.

"We made a mistake, and we accept the station's decision," said Kobylt.

The hosts, who broadcast their show weekday afternoons, will return to the airwaves Feb. 27.

Kobylt and Chiampou often rail against taxes and illegal immigration. The National Hispanic Media Coalition said last year that it targeted the show's advertisers to urge them to stop backing the program.

The group said the hosts promote hate speech and appealed to listeners to call and harass an advocate for immigrant rights about state legislation to give financial aid to illegal immigrant college students.

"A temporary suspension is not enough," Alex Nogales, president and CEO of NHMC, said in a statement. "How many times do John and Ken get to spew their hate, apologize and then do it again after taking off a long weekend? KFI must permanently remove John and Ken from the air. Los Angeles deserves better."