Hispanic Jews in Miami vs. El Vacilon de La Mañana

In previous posts, we have mentioned past efforts in New York to address the rampant homo- phobia (as well as misogyny and racism) in what is often the top-rated local radio shows in the mornings: La Mega 97.7 FM's "El Vacilon de la Mañana."

This has gone on for most of the decade and, so far, it's been a losing battle between a handful of LGBT activists working from their boot-straps and a radio show that brings millions in advertising for the Spanish-language radio station on which it is broadcast.

They have gotten away with it mostly because they use the good ol' "we don't just insult gays, we insult everybody" excuse and because the show is in Spanish which means that most media observers do not know just how offensive it is (more insidiously, they have also usually offered AIDS organizations a space for their public service announcements or bought promotional opportunities at LGBT events just to cover their asses).

Not surprisingly, during the last few years, Spanish-language radio stations have taken notice of its success and have adopted their format and even given it the same name to their morning shows.

Case in point: Today, the South Florida Sentinel reports on the formation of the Hispanic Jewsish Initiative in the wake of similarly offensive shenaningans by Enrique Santos and Joe Ferrero, the Cuban-American crew that steers the Miami version of "El Vacilon" on 95.7 FM's El Zol.

Members of the initiative, which was created under the Florida chapter of the Anti-Defamation League, claim that a recurring skit features a character named David Goldstein who represents some of the worst Jewish stereotypes and is presented as rabidly anti-immigrant.

The paper also reports that to the radio show not only features an image of a Nazi eagle and swastika under the character's "profile" but also takes note of "Al Jackson," an African-American character in some of the skits, whose "profile" shows a "manipulated mug shot of a man whose lips balloon from his face" (as you can see above as lifted from here).

The stations that run the separate versions of "El Vacilon" are both owned by the giant Spanish Broadcastring System but neither SBS nor the Miami show producers returned calls from the paper.

RE-EDITED: When I first checked the show's website I was suprised to notice that their web addy is mariconson.com. At first I thought it might be a homophobic pun ("Maricon son" literally translates into "Fags they are") but a blog reader has pointed out that this might not be the case.

Back in 2004, Miami's "El Vacilon" drew international attention for prank calling Cuban president Fidel Castro and passing themselves as Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. (they were later fined $4,000 by the FCC).

The blog reader says that "Maricon son" is what Fidel actually called the DJ's after he was told that the call was a prank.