Activists to Seek Boycott of Disney Over KLOS Promo

Civil rights activists are expected to call today for a boycott of Walt Disney Co. unless the family entertainment giant publicly apologizes for its role in a radio promotion called “The Black Hoe.”

The news conference, scheduled for this afternoon at the Los Angeles headquarters of the Congress for Racial Equality, comes on the heels of a lawsuit accusing Disney, subsidiary ABC Inc. and the management of its KLOS-FM radio station of violating anti-discrimination laws last year by giving away dark plastic gardening tools called “Black Hoes” as gag prizes on the air to listeners and advertisers.

Disney was sued Aug. 6 by KLOS Traffic Manager Judy Goodwin, a black employee who contends the radio station undertook the “Black Hoe” promotion with the “conscious aim and intent of providing racially offensive, sexually charged entertainment for its primarily white male listening audience and advertising clients.”

Goodwin’s suit says she suffered retaliation for complaining about the promotion, which was broadcast to millions across the nation on the station’s syndicated “Mark & Brian” show.

An ABC spokesperson on Monday said, “It was never our intention to offend any group,” adding that Goodwin’s suit was without merit.

CORE Vice Chairwoman Dr. Sandra Moore said: “Disney needs to come forward and apologize for this mean-spirited, malicious attack against African American females and admit that they have a problem with the ‘Mark & Brian’ show that needs to be fixed. If Disney isn’t willing to do that, they are going to see us protesting outside Disneyland and every theme park and retail store that they own.”

Moore said representatives from the Nation of Islam, the Brotherhood Crusade and several national church groups will join CORE in condemning Disney at today’s gathering. Leaders from other civil rights organizations, including the National Political Congress of Black Women and the Feminist Majority, are expected to release statements today demanding that Disney apologize.

During the last decade, Disney has been singled out for a series of protests and boycotts by conservative watchdogs, religious groups and other critics concerned about some of the controversial movies, music and even health benefit policies associated with the corporation, which has been built on its reputation for wholesome family entertainment.

KLOS-FM deejays Mark Thompson and Brian Phelps were unavailable Monday. Disney and KLOS-FM declined to comment, referring queries to its ABC Inc. division, where Patricia J. Matson, senior vice president of communications, released brief statements: “The promotion ran for about six weeks without a complaint from the public. Once our management at the station learned of the promotion, it was pulled from the air.”

Responding to Goodwin’s lawsuit for the first time, Matson said: “There is no basis to the claims asserted by Ms. Goodwin, and the station intends to vigorously defend itself in this litigation. After concerns were raised [about the ‘Black Hoe’ campaign], top management at KLOS-FM acted promptly to cancel the giveaway and personally apologized to Ms. Goodwin and other employees who were offended. Ms. Goodwin has been treated fairly in every aspect of her employment as has every other employee who raised a concern.”

Goodwin’s attorney James R. DeBose said Monday that no one at KLOS-FM has ever apologized to his client. To the contrary, DeBose says Goodwin suffered harassment and retaliation by station management after she complained about the “Black Hoe” campaign.

“Judy Goodwin stands by every allegation spelled out in her lawsuit,” DeBose said.

According to the suit, KLOS executives, despite warnings by employees concerned about the sexual and racial slurs, ordered thousands of dark plastic gardening tools to be printed with the “Mark & Brian” show logo accompanied by the slogan “The Black Hoe.” During July and August last year, station management directed the staff, including female African American interns and employees, to ship the gadgets to advertising clients and to listeners.

After Goodwin complained to ABC/Disney’s human resource department, senior management at KLOS decided to suspend the campaign, the suit says.

Following her complaints, Goodwin was taunted by white male managers and employees who passed the gag gifts around the office and shouted jokes to one another in “stereotypical mock black accents” about how much “they loved their own personal Black Hoes,” the suit says.

Another former KLOS employee named Leslie Childs has also filed a racial discrimination and sexual harassment complaint against Disney and ABC with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing. An attorney representing Childs, an African American woman, contends that she was forced to quit her marketing job at KLOS because of a hostile work environment and retaliation stemming from her objections to the “Black Hoe” promotion.

A Los Angeles promotions company, meanwhile, has accused the station of stealing the promotional idea from a gag item it created called “Hoe-to-Go,” then adding a racial edge by calling it the “Black Hoe.” The allegations against KLOS-FM are contained in an Aug. 13 letter to the station obtained by The Times in which the Stages N’ Motion company demands compensation for several promotional prizes it contends were stolen from them by KLOS-FM.

C. DeLores Tucker, chairwoman of the Maryland-based National Political Congress of Black Women, said on Monday that Disney crossed the line in allowing the promotion to air on one of its stations.

“How can the Walt Disney Co.--a prized and revered American institution that projects the lofty image of motherhood and apple pie--permit, for one minute, managers of any of its enterprises to project the image of racial hate and intolerance without immediately stepping forward and forthrightly putting the issue to rest?” Tucker said. “Disney needs to apologize to the community and make it perfectly clear that the company will not tolerate the promotion of such racist stereotypes in the future.”

“It’s shocking to me that Disney would be associated with any campaign as demeaning as this,” said Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority. “It’s tragic that they think a white male audience can be built by devices and tactics that dehumanize black women.”