By: SoundSlam/Newsday
Published: Jan. 25, 2005 - New York, NY

Hot 97 radio personality Miss Jones has come under fire for airing a parody of tsunami victims, Newsday reported on Monday (Jan 25).

Despite on-air apologies from both Jones and Hot 97, New York City Council members and Asian-American leaders are calling for the dismissal of the entire Hot 97 morning crew, and for a stronger apology from the station.

The controversy arose after the Hot 97 Morning Crew played the song “We Are the World”, accompanied by a skit which included the line “Go find your mommy/I just saw her float by/a tree went through her head/and now the children will be sold to child slavery.” In an on-air exchange, Todd Lynn, another crew member, burst out with the statement “I’m gonna start shooting Asians.”

Councilman John Liu of Flushing was joined by several colleagues and Asian-Americans who denounced the hosts, Hot 97, and its parent company, Emmis Communications.

“This is utterly irreprehensible,” Liu said in a statement “It degrades the more than 200,000 victims, it demeans all of us here in New York City and throughout the world who are engaged in trying to help these victims of the tsunami, and it’s an insult to humankind itself.”

John Dimick, the station’s program director, declined to elaborate yesterday except to say, “We regret the airing of it and we apologize to our listeners.”

Hot 97 posted a statement on their website saying Jones and others on the show will donate a week’s salary to tsunami relief efforts.

A spokesman for the Federal Communications Commission said he couldn’t comment without a formal complaint and before listening to the lyrics.