An open letter to Kidd Kraddick with the Kidd Kraddick in the Morning Show on 106.1 KISS-FM :
I am writing in response to your account Monday morning, Sept. 19 on your morning radio program, Kidd Kraddick in the Morning on 106.1 KISS-FM, to what was presumably a story about your plight of not being able to gain access to your residence because of road closures perpetuated by the 28th annual Alan Ross Texas Freedom Parade, aka the gay Pride parade, on Sunday, Sept. 18. Your account of these events ended up being sprinkled with unnecessary and offensive stereotypes.
As your story goes, you were attempting to speak with a nearby female Dallas police officer regarding having to park on the street in a designated
“No Parking Any Time” zone. Apparently, you were trying to ascertain from the police officer if your car was at risk of being towed.
My first and obvious comment is: It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that one would stand a better than 98 percent chance of having his or her automobile towed by illegally parking along the street in an area that is clearly and visibly designated by signage as a no parking zone. Any prudent, intelligent individual would not even need to seek out the counsel of a police officer to make this determination, especially during an event like the parade where parking and traffic are, without a doubt, going to be atrocious. These are the times when traffic and parking laws and restrictions are most often enforced.
But I digress. As your odyssey unfolds, your efforts to speak with the female police officer were thwarted because there was a scantily-clad man who was already speaking to the police officer, attempting to determine whether or not his attire, which according to your accounts consisted of flip-flops and canary yellow underwear, were within the boundaries of the law, and not considered indecent or illegal clothing that might result in his arrest.
Because this conversation was taking place, you were not able to get the attention of, or speak to, the police officer.
In your account of the conversation between the man in the yellow underwear and flip-flops and the police officer, you used a lisp when recounting the words spoken by the parade-goer.
Mr. Kraddick, using a lisp in this manner is a blatant, flagrant and outrageous form of discrimination, and as such, perpetuates negative gay stereotypes and encourages unjust prejudice.
Why was it necessary to use a lisp to describe the conversation that you overheard while waiting to speak with the police officer? Did the man actually speak with a lisp? Or was this simply added for (negative) effect and to spice up your tale?
What you assert was being asked by the man to the police officer regarding the legal status of his attire was minimally amusing and could have stood on its own merits in your story without the lisp factor.
But the story, unfortunately, does not end here. As your telling of this story continued, you felt the need to further perpetuate prejudice and negative stereotypes, by lashing out at the female officer by stating that “She obviously had a horse in the parade,” implying that she was a lesbian.
Do you not see how making this sort of a comment is prejudicial?
If you were in a situation that required a police officer’s assistance, my guess is that the fact of whether or not she was a lesbian would be 100 percent irrelevant. So why is it important to render an opinion as to whether or not the female police in your story was a lesbian? What did she say or do that would lead you to that conclusion, and why was it important?
You are obviously an educated and worldly individual. So it’s mind boggling to me that, here in 2011, you are continuing what I believe to be a longstanding practice of making fun of and discriminating against gays and lesbians. Although cloaked in what you most likely consider “light-hearted” humor, the message is still there, loud and clear.
You have a longstanding negative view towards the gay and lesbian community, and this is not simply conjecture on my part. You have demonstrated this for years.
My first recollection of your anti-gay and-lesbian agenda goes way back to 1992. When it became public knowledge that the actor who played Mike Brady on The Brady Bunch, Robert Reed, died of AIDS, you ridiculed and made fun of him for being gay and made countless jokes about how the father on the Brady Bunch was gay and died of AIDS.
Where was your compassion and empathy? Who would have ever thought that this presumably long-forgotten rant of yours from 1992 would come back to haunt you?
Mr. Kraddick, this was nearly two decades ago, and even today, you continue to show your prejudice towards the gay and lesbian community with your not-so-subtle jabs and jokes.
I am calling on you to: 1. Publicly apologize for the disparaging remarks and innuendoes you made Monday morning on your radio show and countless times in the past; 2. Come to terms with your negativity and bias towards the gay and lesbian community and either out yourself as a bigot or strive to gain acceptance and tolerance towards gays and lesbians. The latter will most likely require intense, long-term therapy; 3. Refrain from making gay jokes and perpetuating stereotypes on your radio show. While as an American citizen, you are certainly entitled to your personal views and opinions, as a public figure and someone in the radio in industry, you have a moral obligation to refrain from making public comments that are hurtful, offensive and derogatory towards any group of people. I’m actually surprised that KISS-FM has allowed you to get away with this for decades.
Please do not try and pacify me or others who are insulted by your comments by predictable and lame reasoning such as, “I have some gay acquaintances that I tolerate, therefore I am not prejudiced,” or “I work with gays and lesbians that I get along with, so this makes me gay-friendly.”
These outdated excuses don’t cut it anymore. Although it may be somewhat of a trite statement, actions do indeed speak louder than words. Either admit publicly that you are prejudiced against gays and lesbians, or change your ways once and for all.
Don Anderson, Dallas, via email
……………………………
Targeting gay Pride
I visited Dallas last weekend for the gay Pride festivities. I live in the Chicago now, but I grew up in Dallas. I have parked on Rawlins between Throckmorton and Reagan every time I have ever visited the Oak Lawn neighborhood.
On the day of the Alan Ross Texas Freedom Parade, not any other day, the city of Dallas felt the need to give every person parking on the street a parking ticket. And it is not illegal to park there.
It would appear, from my point of view, the city of Dallas felt the need to target the gay community for revenue because they knew it was Pride. I would not be as appalled by this if the city hadn’t also charged the gay community for their festival.
I try to defend Dallas but I would have to agree, this time, Dallas was very anti-gay on Pride weekend. I and every car on this block was parked legally. I am not upset about the money; I will even pay the ticket. I am upset because I spend countless hours defending Dallas only to feel discriminated against on gay Pride weekend, of all the weekends.
Kathy Hoffmann, Oak Park, Ill., via email
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition September 23, 2011.
I don’t think that Kidd Kraddick descriminates. It seems that he makes fun of everyone. I haven’t listened to his program in decades. When it became obvious that he and his show cohorts were a bunch of bullys, and not deserving of air time. It seems that Kidd has never been a very good example of appropriate behavior.
I was listening to the show, so I feel like I need to weigh in. How do we know that the man didn’t have a lisp? And how do we know that the police officer didn’t have a girlfriend hanging off her? When I heard him say she was obviously a leabian, I took it as he was protecting her from beig viewed as homophobic. Maybe Kidd is, maybe he isn’t. But unless you know for sure, who are you to judge him like that for judging others? Sometimes Kidd does say some things that are offensive, like his jokes towards rape victims. But you have to remember he’s trying to be outrageous on purpose. In my experiences with him, just writing in and explaining how disappointed you were in the joke and why it was so offensive will typically stop the jokes. Tossing accusations and making harsh judgements will get you nothing but defense. You’re now just as guilty as him. It goes both ways.
You are just whinny people….. be proud of who you are, that’s why you feel that you are been bully because you still have problems accepting who you are…. everybody make fun of everything, Hispanics, blacks, and a bunch of other stuff and people but they are not writing letter saying how they are been discriminating….. just laugh and I understand that sometimes some jokes are hurtful but you know what I bet you have done the same in any point in your life… so just please see yourself first, see if you are really accepting who your are see if you have made fun of other people, and then criticized but please stop the whinnying this is why this world is the way it is…….