On the May 5 edition of his nationally syndicated radio program, new CNN host Glenn Beck aired a mock commercial for a fictional amusement park called “Cinco de Flag,” that touted rides such as the “tractor-trailer run,” in which "[w]e simulate an 18-wheeler full of illegal immigrants trying to cross the border when the INS [Immigration and Naturalization Service] breaks in." The mock commercial also advertised the “craziest ride ever to come to Mexico: a job application!” The commercial added: “Feel the exhilaration of what it would actually be like to apply for and get a job in Mexico. Imagine the rush of an economy that won't make residents of its country prefer a life away from family while running from the law.” After the commercial ended, Beck played the 1958 song “Tequila” by The Champs in celebration of Cinco de Mayo, referring to it as the “Mexican national anthem,” and added, “and, of course, we changed the words to English.”
As Media Matters for America has noted, Beck recently declared that illegal immigrants are either “terrorists,” outlaws, or people who “can't make a living in their own dirtbag country” and said that “Mexico is run by nothing but criminals.” Beck's CNN program premiered on May 8 on CNN Headline News.
From the May 5 edition of the Glenn Beck Program:
ANNOUNCER: Get ready to experience the thrills, the chills, and the spills at the greatest amusement park south of the border in tropical Me-hee-ho. You've heard of Six Flags. Well, this one isn't as good, “Five Flags,” if we're lucky.
So, welcome to Cinco de Flag amusement park. So, bienvenidos a Cinco de Flag amusement park. Come see our new line-up of thrill rides, like the biggest rollercoaster in Me-hee-ho, El Nino. Standing a whopping 32 feet tall, it drops an amazing 10 feet in 15 seconds! Run for the border in the terrifying tractor-trailer run. We simulate an 18-wheeler full of illegal immigrants trying to cross the border when the INS breaks in. See if you can make it!
Plus, the craziest ride ever to come to Mexico: a job application! Feel the exhilaration of what it would actually be like to apply for and get a job in Mexico. Imagine the rush of an economy that won't make residents of its country prefer a life away from family while running from the law. And finally the Slingshot -- you get on and are launched into the air, landing far into the distance. By the way, if we mistakenly overshoot the mat and you land in, say, Arizona, it would be terribly wrong to just stay there and send a portion of your earnings back to Cinco de Flag amusement park. So, come to the underwhelming amusement park on the border. It's Cinco de Flag! Register now for head-to-head tunnel digging.
BECK: Well, here it is -- Cinco de Mayo, my friends. Oh, by the way -- the Mexican national anthem here, just for -- and of course, we changed the words to English.
CHORUS: Bourbon!
