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Sam Stein

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huffpolitics, advertisers, anti-muslim, Brave New Films, campaign, controversial, michael savage, radio host, Robert Greenwald, Savage Nation

Advertisers Drop Savage Over Hateful Remarks, USO Hints At Suit

January 23, 2008 03:01 PM


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At least four major firms have pulled advertising from Michael Savage's nationally syndicated radio show following a campaign highlighting his inflammatory rhetoric. One other company, Geico insurance, is expected to follow suit.

The campaign, launched recently by Brave New Films, generated thousands of calls urging advertisers on the Savage Nation show to sever financial ties to the widely popular (and frequently offensive) talk host.

In less than a week, four agreed to pull their ads from the show, including Union Bank of California (whose representative says they were advertisers on the Savage show by mistake and were glad to be taken off), Intuit, Chattem, ITT Technical Institute.

"We are thrilled at the amazing response of the true patriots all over the blogsphere who responded to our NOSAVAGE campaign," Robert Greenwald, head of the film company, said in a statement. "People have called and emailed and the responsible sponsors have responded by pulling their ads and asking that their ads not be on this racist and hateful show."

But group who has segments run on the show is raising eyebrows by refusing to distance itself from Savage. The USO, a non-profit that does work for U.S. armed forces, wrote Brave New Films complaining about being targeted and even hinting at a lawsuit. The organization's lawyer Tony Bisceglie says it does not pay for the USO public service announcements that air on Savage's show.

"As a tax exempt not-for-profit organization, regulated by the Attorney General's Office of the state of California and the Internal Revenue Service, your organization may not engage in making false statements to solicit public support," Bisceglie wrote to Brave New Films. "Therefore, please take the necessary steps to remove USO from your website entirely to avoid further action on our part."

Bisceglie denied that the USO is considering legal action. But John Hanson, a spokesman for the USO, said the organization could ask for its PSAs to be taken off of Savage's program, and wouldn't. "Because then who is next?" he asked. "We provide no revenue for Michael Savage. We may improve his image. But we provide no revenue for him."

The reasoning was not enough to impress officials at Brave New Films who called it a lost opportunity for the USO.

"Considering the USO's role in the world," said Leighton Woodhouse, a spokesperson for Brave New Films, "we would have expected them to be the first to distance themselves from someone who is deliberately fanning the flames of hatred between Muslims and non-Muslims; we were sorely disappointed."

The campaign by Greenwald mirrors an earlier initiative taken on behalf of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. In both cases, Savage's invective was used against him as fuel for advertisers to rescind their financial support. Highlights of the radio host's statements include:

• To "save the United States," lawmakers should institute "outright ban on Muslim immigration" and on "the construction of mosques."
• "90 percent of the people on the Nobel Committee are into child pornography and molestation, according to the latest scientific studies."
• The U.S. Senate is "more vicious and more histrionic than ever, specifically because women have been injected into" it.
• Adherents of Islam would do well to "take your religion and shove it up your behind" because "I'm sick of you."

Brave New Film's video on Savage can be viewed here:

Interestingly, while Brave New Films and CAIR have run identical campaigns against Savage, the radio host has only filed a lawsuit against CAIR. His claim: that his comments were taken out of context and illegally made available.

A call and email to Savage's radio station was not returned.

According to an account in the New York Times, Savage broadcasts his show out of three "virtual safe houses" - whose location he will not reveal - and "is licensed to carry a pistol and does so," out of fears for his life. His program reaches an estimated eight million listeners a week on nearly 400 stations.

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Oops. Forgot to say that one of our local commercial stations brings in Air America--loud and strong.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 08:53 AM on 01/26/2008

For what it's worth department:

I live in a small northern New Mexican town. Threw out my TV 'bout 15 years ago. Have two NPR stations, loaded with cultural, social, community, political,etc. programs.

Listened to Savage several years ago on a commercial station. Five minutes was enough.

Then there's the net. Go to any newspaper, any website, any blog you prefer.

Radio & the net is all about choice. I'm satisfied with what the air waves and cyber space bring me.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 10:25 PM on 01/25/2008

Great! Good riddance to this major league putz.
His hateful blather has been a sore spot among many radio listeners me included.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 10:35 AM on 01/25/2008

Why did Weiner change his name? Because he's just like so many other jews who feel they can't make it if the public knows their ethnicity.

Personally, I believe that Savage is just a con man who tried the liberal route and found that it was too tame to make the big bucks and so decided to appeal to the worst in human nature. Anything for a buck.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 01:41 AM on 01/25/2008

Now you know why Geico used cavemen to advertise with. They had to communicate to the Michale Savage crowd.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:53 AM on 01/25/2008

Ever notice that the most chickenshit people are the ones who bark the loudest. People like Michael Savage are scared shitless of everything. That's why all the hate speech. These chickenshits are also the last ones to sign up to go fight a war and the first to want to send someone else's kids.

This idiot better carry a gun and keep hiding like Bin Laden does. That's how you know he's yellow.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:51 AM on 01/25/2008

I repeat: Liberals believe conservatives are evil; conservatives just believe liberals are not bright, even though you are filled with hatred and vitriol.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 11:08 PM on 01/24/2008



Weiner's (his name is WEINER, not "Savage", and he burned out years ago as a failed, unnoticed liberal) fears are probably well-founded. Imagine a broadcaster so completely odious, so thoroughly despicable, that he has to broadcast from a series of 'safe houses'... kinda like bin Laden.

Then, there are his demented fans...

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 11:05 PM on 01/24/2008

one of the biggest political blunders of the last twenty years was progressives ignoring the uncontested repetition of the talk radio monopoly. it is and has been the single most effective tool at rove's disposal. we need a new Fairness Doctrine ASAP. savage may be sick but he is a small part of the problem and the bogus 'market forces' argument that the limbaughs have been selling doesn't work.
check these out:
ABC and the rise of Rush Limbaugh huppi.com/kangaroo/L-libmedia.htm and:
consortiumnews.com/2005/012805.html
i didn't know rush's original parent co ABC radio was bought up by CIA connected Capital Cities (remember Bill Casey) who then subsidized him everywhere. talk about propaganda operations.
the fairness doctrine didn't mandate equal time, only the the opportunity to reply to the lies. for many years it kept the radio airwaves from being bought up and used for soviet style propaganda. then reagan killed it.
in the last 20 years our public airwaves have been monopolized in an organized coordinated propaganda operation that played a major part in selling and now is keeping us from fixing this bush disaster.
the TR monopoly works very well in keeping competition down- like in any monopoly situation. a local advertiser on the local limbaugh station who i spoke with advertises there only because it is the biggest station in the state and reaches the whole state. they bought up all the big stations and still would rather take losses than let the progressives have a chance. in most parts of the country limbaugh and crew are competing against a few religious stations, maybe a sports station, maybe top 40 western, and a top 40 rock. in large part they've got a captive audience- working and driving folks trying to keep up with current events before going home to fight for the remote. and they've been sold down the river. limbaugh and crew have been wrong about everything major and if they had a choice on the same station progressives would get their fair share of advertising.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 06:09 PM on 01/24/2008

I can't understand why you all get your shorts in such a wad about this guy. Who listens to this idiot other than brain damaged bigots like himself? Don't waste your time on this fool.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 04:59 PM on 01/24/2008

http://www.thetruthaboutrockstar.com/

For your boycotting pleasure.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 04:43 PM on 01/24/2008

He's just a "Silly Savage".

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 03:41 PM on 01/24/2008

Savage is such a self loather, because of his loveless father. You know the type, Brooklyn, "get otta heareee" type. So, why does Savage hate so much. He lives in Marin, just over the Golden Gate from from "San Fransico" like he referes to that city by the bay.

Leave already Savage, go live in Alabama where you'll be surrounded by fellow haters, and can sail your boat on the Redneck Riviera, swat bugs for 9 months of the year, and eat okra pizza and drink 'ol dixie beer, ya pus filled wind bag.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 02:40 PM on 01/24/2008

Important to point out here that Savage has a partial ownership in ROCKSTAR energy drink, so if you find this petty Hitler as noxious as I do you'll stay away from that too.

Just get a cup of coffee and put in some extra sugar.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 02:32 PM on 01/24/2008

He changed his name from Weiner because he's really a Dildo.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 01:35 PM on 01/24/2008

Mr. Weiner has a degree in social work and he worked with typical social worker clientele in New York. He actually was quite a liberal when he started out,a s most social workers are, but, obviously he took his burnout in a whole new direction.

Thanks to all who remember he decided to be called Michael Savage-he's a disgrace to those of us whose last name really is Savage

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 01:33 PM on 01/24/2008

Savage's mother was way ahead of the advertisers.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:53 PM on 01/24/2008


Weiner is broadcast out of the Albany NY area, just ahead Alan Colmes, so my wife and I catch the end of show his show while end route to our camp. If I listen for more than 5 minutes, which is my limit, I can envision any speech delivered by Adolph Hitler, just translate this guy"s tirades into German and he sounds just like him.

I mention Alan Colmes because on his radio show he can be lot more expressive since Hannity takes up all the air in the studio. I think that Colomes picks up Weiner"s audience and these are some of the dumbest callers I ever herd on talk radio, especially if you listen to smart talkers like Tom Hartman. Alan Colome"s radio show is not bad if you can get past the morons who call in.

I"m all for free speech, but where is line drawn in the public sphere, the FCC chased Howard Stern off of FM with constant fines and court cases for unseemly speech, yet hate speech and disinformation are acceptable. He has been attacking Media Matters and CARE as homo sexual, liberal fascist. He has accused CARE of threatening his life. No John there"s a difference between threatening your life and going after your advertisers. The average Islamic terrorist would just blow your ass up. All this hate speech gooses out over satellite radio and Islamic extremist know what that is, 3 hrs of this nut"s show is worth a week of extremist propaganda.

Rush, during the Abu Ghraib mess commented that he did not see any problem with chaining Iraqis to the floor and leaving them in their own excrement for days, since they don"t clean themselves anyway. If one American soldier or Iraqi citizen died as a result of that stupid comment, than Rush is complicit with their death.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:34 PM on 01/24/2008

Safe houses??? The little prick is afraid to show his face in public?!? Kinda makes me think of a guy who hurls insults at pedestrians from a moving vehicle. So in addition to being a bigoted, racist pig, he's also a pussy.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:22 PM on 01/24/2008

Liberalism is a Mental disorder.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 11:03 AM on 01/24/2008

I think we should all form groups to remove all opinion off of he air. I don't like how MSNBC was mean to the Clintons. I don't like how CNN asks Ron Paul questions about racism. I don't like how FoxNews and MSNBC treated Fred Thompson's compaign.

Let's all form one large coalition to remove all opinion from the airways. Broadcasts should just be pure information: Time, Traffic, and Weather.

I don't like it when someone uses words I disagree with. Opposing opinions make me scared that I will have to change my world view, or that my neighbors might be thinking something that I am not.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 10:48 AM on 01/24/2008

It is my opinion that Brave New Films is heading this effort simply because CAIR is losing a major PR battle with savage on this issue. It is the same movement under a different name.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvT_QbkjS14

I don't think they will be successful in their latest efforts. A radio show that attracts up to 8 million people is something that advertisers can't avoid. Where one advertiser leaves the arena, another will enter for just a chance at reaching that wide of an audience.

Is it really logical to remove advertising to 8 ,000,000 people simply because 700 people complain? Where does this sort of boycott end? Should I call MSNBC and tell them I am pulling support until they're more respectful to the Clintons? Maybe we should all join groups and complain until all opinion is removed from the airwaves?

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 10:42 AM on 01/24/2008

No one has a right to the microphone and the airwaves. Conservatives like to cry free speech in situations like this but it's a false argument, like so many others. Mr. Savage Weiner does not have the inalienable, god-given right to have people listen to him when they don't agree. If this were coming from an institution or a government it would surely qualify as some kind of infringement and I would be opposed to that. But this is coming from activists WITHIN SOCIETY, and society has a right to reject that which it does not approve of. And Mr. Weiner Savage does not have the right to demand that society have to accept his radio program's existence or it's profitablilty.

This campaign is not silencing anyone. Am I silenced because I don't have a microphone and a syndicated radio audience of 8 million? Hardly. I am still free to express myself, blog, make a podcast, talk to people I know or don't know about issues, or write books. No one is taking that away from him and no one should. The campaign is not directed towards petitioning lawmakers to take action against this man and so it is NOT the same as legislating against this kind of speech. And to those who would cite Air America as some form of balance to this kind of garbage, I would remind you that a major reason for their struggles was the blacklisting of the broadcaster by corporations who did not approve of the leftwing content.

Conservatives seem to think that they should be able to force people to have to listen to them. They have lost the arguments and the culture wars. We the people determine what is and is not acceptable socially. And hatemongers such as Mr. Savage Weiner, Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck, and company are NO LONGER SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 09:59 AM on 01/24/2008

Hides out in three different safehouses and packs heat? Sounds like Saddam to me.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 09:51 AM on 01/24/2008

He comes on right after Hannity in Atlanta, his use of the word Hate reminds of 1984, where they had Hate rallies, and the guy in V for Vendetta that was on the News.

Now if we can get rid Hannity, Orally, Limbaugh, Anne Coulter, for just lying we will be in good shape.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 09:04 AM on 01/24/2008
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