During the April 10 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio program, conservative talk show host Michael Savage warned political leaders not to sympathize with illegal immigrants, whom he described as “vermin.” Savage stated: “If you take to the streets with the vermin who are trying to dictate to us how we should run America, even though they're not even entitled to vote or be here, you're going to be thrown out of office.” Savage added that Americans are “craving leadership” because "[f]eminism is destroying America. Homosexuality is destroying America. Weepy liberalism is destroying America." Later, referring to a recent episode of the cable program The Sopranos (HBO Original Programming, 1999) in which a character on the show is caught by acquaintances in a gay bar, Savage condemned the media for providing a skewed perspective of Americans. He alleged that “according to the media,” only “three or four thousand people ... are white and go to church,” while "[t]he other 300 million people are either gay or illegal aliens or gangsters."
Savage's remarks came in response to recent protests against proposed immigration reforms, which included groups of demonstrators marching in cities across the United States on April 10. As Media Matters for America has noted, Savage has repeatedly attacked those who oppose immigration reform, even encouraging listeners to “burn the Mexican flag” in opposition to illegal immigrants.
From the April 10 broadcast of Talk Radio Network's Savage Nation:
SAVAGE: And I say also, No. 2, to the politicians, I warn you personally. You will not be re-elected. If you take to the streets with the vermin who are trying to dictate to us how we should run America, even though they're not even entitled to vote or be here, you're going to be thrown out of office. The people will throw you out of office. There are not enough of them to re-elect you. You will be out of a job. You will not have a living. You will be hunting for a job. Maybe, you'll be picking the vegetables.
[...]
SAVAGE: You think that everybody from Latin America likes what's going on with the way we're being pushed around in this country? They'd love the country even more if we were more macho instead of a bunch of feminist saps. Feminism is destroying America. Homosexuality is destroying America. Weepy liberalism is destroying America. That's why we're walking around here like the walking dead. We need leadership. We're craving leadership.
[...]
SAVAGE: Shortly on the Savage Nation, we're going to have the character -- the actor who plays Vito Spatafore, who's Joseph Gannascoli, and I have some interesting questions for him because he's a great actor. I think he plays the toughest role in the whole -- in the whole sequence when you think about the complexity of the part he is playing, you know, like a hidden bisexual in the mafia -- not an easy role I don't think to pull off -- and the guy you'd least expect to, you know, to swing, to be AC/DC in foot power as it were. But I have some questions for you related to this -- in the sense that you don't have to listen to the show or to have watched it to even get into these questions because I think they're interesting -- which is, here's a guy, you know, who's outed inside the gay nightclub. And the question is, well, what is the question? What is the question? I don't even know what question to ask. I mean, should he kill himself in real life? What's the big deal in America today? I mean, they have you believe everyone's an illegal alien or gay. If you turned on CNN, you -- they'd have you believe everyone's gay, lesbian, or an illegal alien. And only, the few people that are left, the remnants, three or four thousand people left are white and go to church, and they're heterosexual, they raise children. The other 300 million people are either gay or illegal aliens or gangsters, that's according to the media.