A Sirius XM radio host who refused to take calls from Asian listeners because of the coronavirus is apologizing.
On both Tuesday and Wednesday during a discussion on stopping the spread of the disease, Jeff Lewis called for Asian American XM employees to be isolated, a boycott of Asian eateries like Panda Express and avoiding places where members of the Asian American community might be present, according to People.
“Apparently, I did incense a few people. I actually feel bad about it. I was joking around and it went a little too far,” he continued. “I apologize for being such an a——. I want people to have fun when they listen to this show . . . So I just wanted to apologize. I’m very sorry for crossing the line,” said Lewis.
Others on the program also joined in the comments including fellow interior designer Megan Weaver, actor Doug Budin, Saturday Night Live alum Cheri Oteri, actress Monika Casey, and real estate agent Carrie Lewis.
“We love our Asian listeners and we would never want them to feel excluded,” Lewis said, in part. “We also never meant to spread hate or breed racism with our comments.”
During the program earlier in the week, Lewis advised “that we quarantine all Asian SiriusXM employes.”
“This would include Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Taiwanese, Vietnamese, Burmese, Filipino, Indonesian, etc.,” Lewis said. “I’m sure there’s more. That’s all we could think of. We’ll see how that goes.”
Also this week, officials at UC Berkeley issued an apology of their own after several social media posts called xenophobia a common reaction to the spread of the coronavirus, reported CBS News.
The post on Instagram and its website have since been deleted. Images explained how to “manage fears and anxiety” including xenophobia which it described as “fears about interacting with those who might be from Asia and guilt about those feelings.”
“The post has been taken down and we regret any misunderstanding it may have caused,” a spokesperson told CBS News.
The apology came after several Asian American alumni called out the University.
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