D.C. ‘Shock Jock’ Fired After Joke About Dragging Death

A Washington radio “shock jock” has been fired for a race-related remark he made Wednesday during his morning drive-time show.

Disc jockey Doug Tracht of classic rock station WARW, who is known as the “Greaseman,” noted that the Grammy Awards ceremony was scheduled for that evening and played a portion of a song by Lauryn Hill, the young black hip-hop artist who later won five Grammys. Then he commented: “No wonder people drag them behind trucks.”

The reference was to the brutal torture and death in Jasper, Texas, of James Byrd Jr., who was decapitated while being dragged behind a pickup truck carrying white supremacist John William King, who was convicted of murder Tuesday and given the death penalty Thursday.

WARW General Manager Sarah Taylor said she “deplored the comment and was appalled by it.”

“There is no room for remarks like that at our station and I apologize to all the listeners who were quite rightly offended by it,” Taylor said.

Tracht, who had a brief stint on Los Angeles radio, did not return phone calls but did fax a one-paragraph statement to the Washington Post:

“I’m truly sorry for the pain and hurt I have caused with my unfeeling comment. I have no excuse for my remark, and regret it. If I could take it back I would. In the course of my show, split-second judgment is made over ad-libs. This remark was a grave error in my judgment.”