The New Don Imus: Craig Carton Mocks Asians, Turns in Immigrants, Outs Politicians
By Yoji Cole
September 04, 2007
CBS today has replaced Don Imus with Craig Carton, a shock jock out of New Jersey and a curious hire considering Carton is as controversial as Imus, who was fired for his derogatory remarks about the Rutgers University women's basketball team.
Carton's track record demonstrates his misogyny and prejudice: He "outed" politicians thought to be gay, started a game called Operation Rat a Rat/La Cucha Gotcha to turn in undocumented immigrants, and not only mocked a Korean American running for mayor of Edison, N.J., by using a fake Korean accent but said he is irritated that Asian Americans crowd the blackjack tables in Atlantic City.
And everyone thought Imus was controversial? It appears CBS believes there is still an audience for sexist, racist, ethnocentric humor, even though Imus' brand got him canned.
"Prior to Craig's employment at New Jersey 101.5 he successfully held positions with CBS radio stations in New York and Philadelphia and delivered straight forward programs on other sports formatted stations across the country not unlike the show he will be doing on WFAN. Both Boomer and Craig are interested in doing a show focused on sports that will be both challenging and compelling. With that being said we also have strict standards and practices in place and have made clear our expectations in this area. We will not tolerate commentary that aims to demean discriminate or harass anyone in our listening audience," said CBS radio in a statement.
WFAN is pairing Carton with former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason. The two will discuss sports and not social politics, which was the focus of Carton's New Jersey show.
"Craig's broadcasting abilities have enabled him to draw an audience bigger than that of any other afternoon FM talk-show host today," Mark Chernoff, vice president of programming/operations manager, said in August.
Carton is truly a veteran of radio who has seen listener-numbers success almost everywhere he's worked. He started as a sports-radio host in Buffalo, N.Y., before moving to shows in Cleveland, Philadelphia, Denver and New York and was syndicated on 40 stations nationally. The last five years he's hosted "The Jersey Guys" broadcast during the afternoon drive.
Carton was named one of the top 100 most important and influential talk-show hosts in the country for three straight years by Talkers Magazine. PoliticsNJ.com in 2007 named him the ninth most politically influential personality in the state of New Jersey. Radio and Records nominated him in 2006 as talk-show host of the year, and he has won every major radio award in New Jersey. Carton also started the Circle of Trust Foundation, which has donated tens of thousands of dollars to child-related charities.
For the record, Imus also has strong children's charities.
It's puzzling that CBS would turn to a personality as controversial as Imus after the network was embroiled in such a public firing. And CBS Radio is well aware of Carton's "irreverent" past that began at the start of his career in 1991 in Buffalo.
"[Carton's] energetic and irreverent show quickly became a ratings hit," wrote CBS Radio in its press release about Carton's first foray into radio in Buffalo.
Ratings are exactly why CBS hired Carton. He most recently offended Latinos when he and co-host Ray Rossi started a listener-participation game called Operation Rat a Rat/La Cucha Gotcha. The game encouraged people to turn in friends, neighbors and "anyone suspicious" to immigration authorities. Assemblyman Wilfredo Caraballo of Newark, N.J., called the campaign a "publicity stunt" that could potentially incite violence against Latinos.
"Our country is at war right now, and it's very important that we protect our kids, and one of the ways you can protect them is to not let undocumented immigrants into this country," said Carton, according to the blog LibertyLoung.net.
To insult Asian Americans, Carton mocked Asian-American speech patterns by using a sing-song accent when referring to Jun Choi, a Korean American running for Edison mayor in 2005. Later, Carton said of Asian Americans, "I don't like the fact that they crowd the ... blackjack tables in Atlantic City with their little chain smoking and little pocket protectors ...There should be Asian-only rooms in casinos."
Carton also offended women who had postpartum depression in 2006 when then Gov. Richard Codey's wife revealed she had the disorder. Codey's wife said that during her darkest times, she had considered placing her baby in a microwave, according to LibertyLounge.net.
"What Gov. Codey ought to do is approve the use of medical marijuana so women can have a joint and relax instead of putting their babies in a microwave," said Carton, according to LibertyLounge.net. "Then all they want to do is cook Doritos. Women who claim they suffer from this postpartum depression ... they must be crazy in the first place."
Also, while on air in New Jersey, Carton "outed" any gay or lesbian politician in New Jersey. Carton and Rossi took calls from people who claimed a politician was gay and conducted background checks on state politicians to find out which were gay. When Carton and Rossi found out about a politician, they released the name and the person's position to the public, according to LibertyLounge.net.
Carton said outing gay and lesbian politicians ensured they could not be bribed because of their hidden orientation.
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