A California mayor has received death threats after KFI Los Angeles radio hosts John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou targeted him for protest, at least the second public official in recent weeks to receive threats connected to Kobylt and Chiampou's rhetoric.
For several weeks, Kobylt and Chiampou have promoted a protest and recall effort for two Fullerton city councilmen and Mayor Dick Jones. According to NBC Los Angeles:
A group of Fullerton residents began an effort Friday to recall three members of the city council, including Mayor F. Richard Jones, in the wake of the death of a homeless man, Kelly Thomas.
Thomas died five days after a confrontation with six Fullerton police officers at the city's bus depot.
The recall effort is also aimed at the Mayor Pro Tem Don Bankhead and Council Member Pat McKinley.
Supporters of the recall move described the trio on Twitter as “the Silent Three.”
In an October 21 Orange County Register column, David Whiting reported that Jones “was shocked Monday night when he learned of the graffiti on a City Hall door. ”Hit Man is hear (sic). Mayor Dick. You're first. You're dead."
When asked by the Register why he did not condemn Thomas' death or speak out about it, Jones explained that “council was told by city attorneys that making statements could jeopardize successful prosecutions of suspects.”
Kobylt and Chiampou's response to the death threat was only to say that it represented “a select collection of responses” and to proclaim that “the opposition to us are not defined by the messages we get.”
Listen:
Inciting threats is nothing new for the John and Ken show. On September 1, the hosts aired the personal cell phone number of Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA) activist Jorge-Mario Cabrera, who received hundreds of threatening calls as a result. The hosts denied responsibility, stating repeatedly that Cabrera's phone number was part of a press release, and therefore public information.
Clear Channel, which owns KFI, even wrote a letter defending the hosts' actions to Alex Nogales, President and CEO of the National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC).
The Los Angeles Times reported in February 2009:
Not that John & Ken or their website strive for subtlety. A central image on the site in recent weeks: pictures of the Republican budget supporters, their heads lopped off and set atop cartoon pikes.
Duly inspired, one KFI fan called the office of Assembly Republican leader Mike Villines in the wee hours of the morning (as the budget talks went overnight) and repeated, time after time, “Head on a stick! Head on a stick!”
Such rhetoric has struck a chord with some advertisers of the program, including prominent national corporations AT&T and Verizon, both of whom pulled their ads from the John and Ken Show earlier this month. Los Angeles area grocery store chains Vons and Ralphs also pulled their ads from the program.
Despite these advertiser retreats, John and Ken vowed that “nothing on the show is changing. We're going to talk about illegal aliens all we want,” promising more of the reckless rhetoric that has led to numerous threats in Southern California.