US Radio Host Fired for Anti-Islam Rant

Michael Graham said bosses at WMAL-AM in Washington, owned by the Walt Disney Company, sacked him after he refused to apologize for the remarks, for which he was suspended last month pending investigation, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"I find it absolutely outrageous that pressure from a special-interest group like (the Council on American Islamic Relations) CAIR can result in the abandonment of free speech and open discourse on a talk radio show," Graham said.

"As a conservative talk host whose job is to have an open, honest conversation each day with my listeners, I believe caving to this pressure is a disaster," Graham said in a statement.

Graham, part of a line-up of conservative talk-show hosts at the station, did not repeat his incendiary remarks, referring instead to "Islam and its tragic connections to terrorism."

Executives at WMAL said the star host had "crossed the line."

"We do not condone his position, and we believe his statements were irresponsible," WMAL-AM President Chris Berry said.

Graham reportedly claimed last month that blame for recent acts of terrorism lay not with Islamic radicals alone but also with Muslims generally.

"The problem is not extremism," Graham told listeners. "The problem is Islam." He also said: "We are at war with a terrorist organization named Islam."

The Muslim minority in the United States was quick to strongly condemn the July 7 terrorist attacks in London, which killed 56 people including four British-born Muslims.

Famed British writer Karen Armstrong has warned that Islam should not be associated with terrorist acts committed by people who call themselves Muslims.

A prolific writer on all three monotheistic religions, she said that terror has no religion, with people calling themselves Muslims, Christians or Jews committing crimes in the name of their religions.

"So although Muslims, like Christians or Jews, have all too often failed to live up to their ideals, it is not because of the religion per se," averred Armstrong.

Muslims Welcome

Graham's departure is seen as a victory by active US Muslim activists.

"Just as Michael Graham has the right to hold bigoted views, so, too, does our society have the right to live free of hatred and incitement," said CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad in a statement Monday.

"We are saddened that Michael Graham would not take responsibility for his hate-filled words, but we do welcome WMAL's action as a step toward reducing the level of anti-Muslim bigotry on our nation's airwaves."

In response to Graham’s remarks, CAIR initiated a public campaign against WMAL and the station's advertisers after receiving complaints from listeners who heard Graham make those anti-Islam remarks.

While WMAL initially stood behind Graham, it changed its position after hundreds of people responded to the group's action alerts by contacting the station and its sponsors.

In June, a California radio station was forced to issue an on-air apology for an Islamophobic skit that claimed Muslims have sex with animals, avoid bathing and are obsessed with killing Jews.

The Chicago-based syndicated radio commentator Paul Harvey, the most listened-to radio personality in the United States, claimed in December 2003 that Islam "encourages killing."

But after receiving hundreds of angry messages from Muslims, Harvey backtracked on his defamatory comments, praising Islam as a "religion of peace".

http://islamonline.net/English/News/2005-08/23/article03.shtml