Rape Away the Gay:FM DJ TELLS FATHER OF LESBIAN-Cleveland, OH

GLAAD Calling for Suspension After Horrific Anti-Gay Remark on Cleveland's WMMS

Friday, April 27, 2012 - 2:54pm by Justin Ward, Senior Media Field Strategist at GLAAD

GLAAD is calling on Clear Channel and Cleveland radio station WMMS to suspend radio personality Dominic Dieter for telling a father to essentially arrange for his daughter to be raped if he suspects she's gay.

This morning GLAAD received several incident reports that alerted us to a horrific anti-gay remark that was made on today's episode of "Rover's Morning Glory," a popular morning show that airs on Cleveland's WMMS 100.7 FM radio (The Buzzard).  Throughout the history of FM broadcasting, WMMS has been widely regarded as one of the most influential rock stations in America.

According to the incident reports (and later confirmed to us by an executive for Clear Channel, the station's parent company), the anti-gay remark was made by Dominic Dieter, one of the "Rover's Morning Glory" cast members.  Responding to an e-mail from a father who (for reasons unknown) wrote to the station to say that he'd happened upon his teenage daughter kissing another girl. Deiter responded to the father, on-air, by saying:

"You should get one of your friends to screw your daughter straight."

This is not okay.  Not on any level, and not in any context.  We trust that the majority of fair-minded Americans will agree. Make no mistake, if this young woman is, in fact, gay - or if she's simply not interested in having sex with any of her father's friends, then what Dieter is suggesting is rape.

"It was appalling and dangerous for this show to tell a father that he should have one of his friends rape his daughter" said Aaron McQuade, GLAAD's Director of News & Field Media.  "That's essentially how Dieter responded to this listener, and this is no laughing matter in a world where people are too often the victims of violence and sexual assault based on their actual or perceived sexual orientation. And Dieter gave this vile advice to everyone who was listening, including educators, parents and children - sending the message that it's okay to physically or sexually abuse people who are perceived to be gay."

No one should be let off the hook for saying what Dieter said, especially media personalities who are often revered by their impressionable young listeners.  Though Dieter's castmates called him out for his remark, that's not nearly enough.  Because this remark is so severe, it is Dieter and WMMS/Clear Channel's obligation to take responsbility for this awful mistake.  To that end, GLAAD has reached out to Clear Channel executives and asked for Dieter to be suspended. We would also like a sincere apology, and for the show to devote a segment to speaking about the real harms that can come from parental rejection, even if they aren't as repulsive as the method suggested on-air this morning.