I remember this tweet. I laughed when I read it. On the day of the State of the Union address, everyone was asking why Kamala Harris was wearing such an ugly colored suit. Be honest. Have you ever seen a female politician wear a suit this color? Its poop-brown hue sparked many a meme. Amber Athey, an editor at Spectator World and also a co-host on conservative Newstalk Radio WMAL, made a UPS joke out of it. “Kamala looks like a UPS employee—what can brown do for you? Nothing good, apparently.” This is an obvious jab at her brown suit, which looked like a UPS uniform.
Kamala looks like a UPS employee — what can brown do for you? Nothing good, apparently.
— Amber Athey (@amber_athey) March 2, 2022
Harris looked terrible and everybody noticed it.
#SOTU kamala
The gays 🏳️🌈need to pick #KamalaHarris's outfit for next year #SOTU pic.twitter.com/UkPmPh2Uwa
— Noelia Izarza (@NoeliaIzarza) March 2, 2022
But Athey’s words were maliciously twisted by political activists who called WMAL and insisted that they were racist in nature and not a commentary on the color of Harris’s suit. WMAL, owned by Cumulus, fired Athey.
Over the past two weeks, I have received a lot of questions about why I haven't been on @WMALDC.
I was not sick or on vacation. @WMALDC @CumulusMedia fired me for making a "racist" joke about Kamala Harris's SOTU outfit. https://t.co/kOV9mTLqIA
— Amber Athey (@amber_athey) April 4, 2022
Based on the types of people who complain to radio stations about hosts, Cumulus should actually investigate where the complaints came from. If history holds, it will end up being four people in a basement making it look like a groundswell of angry listeners. This is a known tactic that activists use to silence conservatives on the air. The massive campaign launched against Rush Limbaugh’s advertisers turned out to be coming from about ten people. He almost lost his show over it, but the plot was exposed. Twitchy reported Limbaugh’s response:
The Stop Rush group claims to be made up of ordinary consumers unhappy with Rush Limbaugh’s comments. The group claims to be “grassroots,” just concerned consumers who won’t shop at businesses that advertise with Rush Limbaugh. In truth, however, there are no potential customers here, just a small number of hardcore political activists founded by Angelo Carusone, EVP of Media Matters for America.
It’s remarkably tiny. Only 10 Twitter users account for almost 70% of all StopRush tweets to advertisers, amplified by illicit software. In addition, almost every communication from a StopRush activist originates from outside the State of the advertiser. Thus, these activists are not and never would have been customers… their only role is to harass small businesses in an attempt to interfere with their operations, as long as they are advertising with Rush.
These coordinated attacks on conservative voices are old news. The question is, why doesn’t Cumulus know this, and why didn’t they give Athey the chance to explain the joke?
Athey wrote her story at the Spectator.
No one had a problem with the tweet until a few days later, when I spoke critically of protests in favor of “trans kids” at the University of North Texas. A group of maniacal left-wing activists who want to chemically castrate children in the name of “gender affirmation” came after me. All of a sudden, the Kamala tweet was being re-framed as racist and dozens of Twitter accounts were bragging about contacting my employers about my ‘bigotry.'”
“Dozens” of coordinated accounts should have set off some red flags for any employer.
Later that afternoon, just before 4 p.m., I received a call out of the blue from Jeff Boden, the vice president of Cumulus Washington, D.C, and Kriston Fancellas, the vice president of Human Resources.
They told me that the tweet I sent about Kamala was “racist” and that subsequent follow-ups defending myself and making fun of the efforts to cancel me were unacceptable. I had violated the company’s social media policy, they said, and I was terminated effective immediately.
They did not have the courtesy to offer me an opportunity to defend myself, nor did they speak to anyone at the program before handing down their decision.
Despite multiple appeals, during which company officials admitted that the perception of racism was more important than whether or not my tweet was actually racist, the company has refused to reverse its decision. Meanwhile, my image and bio is still being used on the WMAL website and social media channels to promote their programming. I am racist enough not to be paid, but not so racist that my likeness cannot be affiliated with the station, apparently.
No one really thinks her joke about Harris’s outfit was racist. Activists wanted Athey silenced, and the corporation she worked for took the easy way out. Executives who don’t want to fight the culture wars in any meaningful way simply caved to the cry-bullies. PJ Media reached out to Cumulus Media with an inquiry and will update this article if they respond.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member