KFI skit draws FCC complaint

An Islamic rights group has filed a federal complaint against Los Angeles talk radio station KFI-AM (640) and the nation’s largest radio chain over a skit which suggested that Iraqis want to kill Jews, marry camels, avoid bathing and meet Japanese schoolgirls in heaven.

Meanwhile, an official for the Clear Channel Communications station said she would read an apology on the air for the March 10 broadcast by morning show host Bill Handel, which triggered the Federal Communications Commission complaint.

“The Handel show was attempting to make a satirical point about the extremist Iraqis in Iraq,” said KFI Program Director Robin Bertolucci. “In the process, we unwittingly offended a lot of people, and for that we are very sorry. That was not our intention. Our intention was to be satirical.”

A representative of Clear Channel, which dumped top-rated talk show host Howard Stern in February under a new “zero tolerance” policy toward indecency, had no immediate comment.

Sabiha Khan, a spokeswoman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said her group filed the complaint after KFI and Handel initially refused to apologize.