KEZY-FM Halts Contest That Critics Called Racist

Officials of radio station KEZY-FM on Friday discontinued a contest that has drawn criticism as being racist and instead began broadcasting an apology by the station’s general manager that will continue throughout the weekend.

In addition, morning disc jockey and contest originator Chris Little on Thursday was suspended for one day because, against the company’s wishes, he conducted one last segment of the contest for a film crew from the television program “Entertainment Tonight,” said Miles Sexton, general manager and vice president of the Orange County-based pop music station.

Sexton said the apology and Little’s suspension reflected a company decision to take the issue seriously, rather than dismissing the contest as misguided humor.

“I felt we definitely had to take a stand to stop doing this . . . even if the racist part was unintentional,” Sexton said.

In the contest, known as “Foreign or Domestic,” Little would call various convenience stores and ask a listener to guess whether the sales clerk was born in the United States or in a foreign country.

Although canceling the contest was discussed in a policy meeting last week, Sexton said the decision to discontinue it immediately was spurred mostly by callers to the station who praised it for allegedly denouncing immigrants.

“We found that this was appealing to people who appeared at heart to be bigoted and racist,” said Little, a Chino resident. “It brought the Archie Bunker crowd out of the woodwork. I live in San Bernardino County, and I would expect that out here, but I’m surprised there are people like this in Orange County. Believe me, my eyes have been opened. It’s been a lesson in humility.”

Little said the contest was launched six weeks ago in the spirit of what has become a standard 7-Eleven joke on the stand-up comedy circuit.

According to a script provided to The Times by Sexton, his on-air apology reads in part: “Sometimes the best of intentions blow up in your face. And, as we here at KEZY sit around with powder burns all over ours, we realize that something we did that was intended to poke a little fun at our society, unintentionally poked a raw nerve as well.

“When KEZY’s morning personalities created the contest called ‘Foreign or Domestic,’ it was not for the purpose of singling out any members of our community for ridicule or harm. Unfortunately, our attempt at humor was taken offensively by some people in our community, and for that, we are deeply sorry.”