A local radio DJ in Connecticut is eating his words this week.
Gary Craig, a longtime DJ on WTIC-FM 96.5, landed himself in hot water when he recorded and uploaded a video to YouTube of himself making a series of culturally insensitive remarks as he walked through Hartford's Latino Fest Saturday.
"I walked into some kind of parallel universe or something. What the hell? What is this?" Craig says in the video, which he has since taken down. “I don’t know what the hell this is.”
At another point in the video, Craig shouts “Help! Help!” as he passes by other festival attendees who are engaging in innocuous activities such as eating, walking and sitting. He then walks up to a piña colada stand with Puerto Rican flags as decorations and declares, “Now I don't have to go to Cuba," before singing a portion of the theme song to "I Love Lucy."
As the video blessedly draws to an end, Craig zooms in on a sign for the festival. “Oh, that’s what this is. It's a Latino Fest. I didn’t know what the hell it was,” he says, chuckling to himself.
However, many locals did not find Craig’s video funny.
In a statement released Tuesday, Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin, who was present at Saturday’s festival, called the video "repulsive and bizarre," and requested the owner of 96.5 TIC FM “get this trash off of their website."
A local Fox News affiliate reports, City Councilman Julio A. Concepcion echoed Bronin, calling Craig’s comments “insensitive” and “degrading” to the local Latino community.
“Whether made in jest or not, his racist undertones are absolutely inexcusable and should be condemned by his employer,” Concepcion said.
Craig removed the video from YouTube and his personal Facebook page Tuesday after local officials spoke out about it, The Hartford Currant reports. However, local affiliate WFSB has the full video on its site.
WTIC released a written statement of apology from Craig on Tuesday which stated: "I recognize that it was a poor attempt at being humorous. It was insensitive and stupid, and I sincerely apologize."
However, as noted in an editorial released by the Courant, the damage has already been done. "He can't make it go away," the Courant wrote. "The Hartford community now knows exactly what Mr. Craig thinks of its Latino residents." According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Hartford's Latino community accounts for 44 percent of the city’s population.
Victor Luna, the founder and organizer of Hartford's Latino Fest told the Courant he felt the video was "disappointing, shocking and uncalled for," but he was glad elected officials supported the Latino community throughout the entire debacle.
Craig has been suspended until July 5.
H/T Mic
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