I have been looking forward to the day when Jay Severin was taken off the air. But not like this.
We don’t know yet exactly why he was suspended – I have an alternative theory below – but it appears that it was related to his most recent (but certainly not new) comments about Mexicans.
Here’s some of the reporting about the suspension:
This development disappoints me because …
- If Jay Severin had been suspended every time he said something offensive about a group of people, he would have had many more days off the air than on in these past 10 years. Has anyone at Greater Media ever listened to his show?
- Jay and his sycophants can now rightly complain that he was taken off the air merely for expressing his opinion, and they’ll bring out the old “free speech” and “censorship” arguments. (These arguments are specious, because there is no right to express yourself on the radio, and a broadcaster is under no obligation to broadcast whatever its employees feel like saying. Nevertheless, Jay will get to play the martyr.)
- The real reasons that Jay should be off the air – that he presents lies as truth and idiocy as logic – will now get less attention.
It’s possible that there’s another story going on here. Earlier this week – Tuesday or Wednesday, I think – I heard Jay lead off the 6:00 hour (if memory serves) with a very curious monologue. Referring back to the St. Patrick’s Day incident, Jay told his listeners that he had “another Imus story.” He declined to tell the story and made some opaque comments about who knew the story and who didn’t, why he wasn’t at liberty to tell the story just yet, and why he was even mentioning it at this time. Jay was pretty ticked off about the whole thing, though – he even said “God damn it” on the air.
It would not surprise me at all to learn that Jay Severin has been suspended not for demonizing the citizens of Mexico but rather for picking a fight with his cellmate. After all, having Jay Severin say something bad about Don Imus could be bad for ratings.
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