New Jersey radio hosts suspended

New Jersey radio hosts suspended after calling Sikh attorney general ‘Turban Man’

By RYAN HUTCHINS

It took just hours for a conservative radio station in New Jersey to suspend two of its most prominent talk-show hosts after the pair repeatedly referred to state Attorney General Gurbir Grewal, a practicing Sikh, as “Turban Man.”

“The guy with the turban,” New Jersey 101.5 host Dennis Malloy said on the air Wednesday, referring to Grewal. He then declared he would never learn the name of the state’s top prosecutor, a key foe of President Donald Trump.

“Turban Man,” his co-host, Judi Franco, replied in a sing-song voice during a broader discussion about a recent action taken by the attorney general.

“Listen, and if that offends you, then don't wear the turban and maybe I'll remember your name,” Malloy said. “If you called me ‘Baseball Hat Man’ and I was in a culture where no one wore baseball hats … should I be offended?”

The comments mark another controversial episode in the history of New Jersey 101.5, where shock jock Craig Carton once ranted about the “damn Orientals and Indians” and mocked a former governor’s wife for suffering from postpartum depression.

But this latest incident, which gained widespread public attention after audio of the show was shared on Twitter Wednesday evening, was met with swift anger and, to the surprise of some, an apology and action by the station. The reaction seemed to highlight how quickly public outcry can can grow over insensitive comments in an age in which the level of political discourse has shifted dramatically since Trump became president.

The state’s top Democrats quickly weighed in to condemn the remarks and praise Grewal, who grew up in New Jersey and is the first Sikh American to serve as an attorney general in the United States.

Gov. Phil Murphy, who nominated Grewal to his position and has been a guest of the station numerous times, released a statement calling the comments “abhorrent and xenophobic” and urged New Jersey 101.5 to “hold the hosts accountable for these intolerant and racist comments.”

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) tweeted that the “hateful rhetoric doesn’t reduce Gurbir,” but rather “reduces and disgraces the one who uses it.” He called on all to “denounce this ignorant and outrageous attack.”

Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla, also a Sikh American, tweeted, “Hey Racist Man,” at the Dennis and Judi show’s account.

A flood of condemnations from civil rights groups and politicians from both major political parties spilled into Thursday, when state lawmakers spoke out on the Senate floor.

Shortly after midnight, the station said it had suspended the hosts indefinitely. Before the business day had closed Thursday, New Jersey 101.5 announced Malloy and Franco would be kept off the air for 10 days, with President Ron deCastro saying “the language used was clearly demeaning and inappropriate.”

The hosts, who have done a show together for 21 years and who are on the air from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., issued a mea culpa for “a mistake we both deeply regret.”

“We offer our sincerest apologies to Attorney General Gurbir Grewal as well as the Sikh and East Asian communities for a series of insensitive comments we made on our show,” the hosts said in a statement. “We use humor and sarcasm to make a point and add color to the broadcast; in this instance, we were off the mark.”

The remarks about Grewal were not out of character for the station, which has brushed aside past controversies.

“I’ve heard them say similar things many, many times before over the years,” said Patrick Murray, the director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute. “But the fact that this just dialed up to 11 so quickly has a lot to do with the environment that we’re in right now, where many people just feel you can’t let these things slide anymore.”

Grewal, an Indian-American former federal prosecutor, was previously appointed the Bergen County prosecutor by Republican Gov. Chris Christie. The 45-year-old has said one reason he left private practice to go into public service was to shift perceptions.

"I wanted to give back to a country that has given us and other immigrant families like us so much," he said when Murphy announced his nomination. "And, in the process, I wanted to perhaps show people that, while I and others like me may look different, or worship differently, that we too are committed to this country."

Since he was confirmed by the state Senate in January, on the same day Murphy took office, Grewal has made Trump one of his primary targets. He has filed dozens of lawsuits against the administration over issues ranging from the federal tax code changes to immigration.

Grewal, despite being an unelected official, has also been lifted up as a high-profile figure in the anti-Trump movement following the downfall of New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. Grewal has jurisdiction over over 20 Trump properties, including Bedminster, and told POLITICO in May he would not hesitate to exercise his authority if there are gaps in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.

“If with him [Schneiderman] not being there, there’s a gap, we’ll fill that gap to make sure there’s no backsliding,” Grewal said.

The attorney general’s place in the anti-Trump world could have also played into the strong reaction to the comments about Grewal, coming in a midterm election year, though some New Jersey Republicans were also quick to condemn the attacks on the Democrat.

“There are a lot of Republicans in this country and particularly in New Jersey who realize the level of discourse that the president has modeled for his followers is probably not the right level of discourse we should be having if we want to have a working government and a public that works together,” Murray said.

As for Grewal, he started his day by tweeting at the station: “My name, for the record, is Gurbir Grewal. I’m the 61st Attorney General of NJ. I’m a Sikh American. I have 3 daughters. And yesterday, I told them to turn off the radio.”

He said it wasn’t the first “indignity” he had faced and it likely won’t be the last.

“Sometimes, I endure it alone. Yesterday, all of New Jersey heard it. It’s time to end small-minded intolerance,” he tweeted, thanking prominent Democrats who had come to his defense. “You’ve got my back – and the backs of all New Jerseyans. Others have faced far worse. We rise above this. Now let’s get back to business.”