Advocates today publicly called for the suspension of Los Angeles talk radio host Bill Handel of KFI for repeatedly making references to dog-eating Asians over the last seven months.
The Media Action Network for Asian Americans took their demands public after being frustrated in their attempts to get a meeting with iHeart radio executives and station managers at KFI.
According to MANAA co-founder Guy Aoki, during a story about a children’s book featuring a dog on October 3, Hanel said “Is it translated in Korean? Don’t use too much ketchup.”
That was exactly one week after he said on September 25, “There are still restaurants that serve dog and cat though not necessarily in the U.S. I don’t want to name ethnic groups and countries that they have dog and cat restaurants.”
Aoki says he then proceeded to utter the words China and Korea under his breath.
On September 16, Handel comments on Donald Trump and JD Vance allegations that Haitian immigrants are eating pets. “I’m putting up on Instagram @BillHandelShow, a recipe for dog meat soup—this is legitimate, by the way—OK, dog meat soup & fiery Szechuan cat stir fry with full instructions on how to cook cats and dogs. Now, what’s kinda weird is Korean & Chinese—I’m trying for the life of me to look at a Haitian recipe for dogs and cats and I cannot find one!
Just one month earlier, he made another reference to Korean tourists wanting to rent an Airbnb.
“You really want to host tourists who speak no English and are completely, totally obnoxious. There’s nothing like them. You know, I don’t want to mention names in terms of obnoxious people at all, you know, because I can’t do that anymore.”
He then quickly says the word “Koreans.”
Back in May, MANAA says Handel made remarks about no kill shelters and not letting Koreans adopt dogs.
MANAA is demanding Handel be suspended without pay, make a formal apology to Koreans and Chinese and agree to perform to community service.
Aoki says efforts to get a meeting with Paul Corvino, Division President of iHeartMedia; Chris Berry, Interim Station Manager and Executive VP, News Talk and Sports and host and producer Neil Saavedra have been unsuccessful and have only generated a brief email response.
“Your feedback is very important, and appreciated, as we evaluate our programming. Thank you again for taking the time to bring your observations to our attention.”
AsAmNews has reached out to Saavedra, Corvino and Berry for comment. We will update this story if we hear back.
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