Letters by OCA National President, Raymond Wong 
2) Letter to Fox Sports Radio

Ross Levinsohn
Senior Vice President and General Manager
Fox Sports Radio
15260 Ventura Blvd, Suite 500
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403

January 10, 2003

Dear Mr. Levinsohn:

The Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA), a national Asian Pacific American (APA) civil rights and education group with over 80 chapters and affiliates nationwide, writes to you in response to complaints we have received from the listeners of Fox Sports Radio’s Tony Bruno Morning Extravaganza.

Reports indicate that Bruno had basketball star Shaquille O’Neal on as a guest and at the mention of Houston Rockets’ Yao Ming, O’Neal proceeded to taunt Ming by speaking in mock-Chinese gibberish. Then, on December 16 and 17, 2002, Bruno replayed the recording of the taunt several times to the show’s nationwide audience. Bruno remarked that O’Neal’s comments were not racist and welcomed listeners to call in, often with more anti-Asian racist jokes.

This was not the only incident of Fox Sports Network condoning O’Neal’s offensive behavior. On June 28, 2002, when O’Neal appeared on the Best Damn Sports Show Period, O’Neal again spoke in a fake Chinese accent and made mock kung-fu moves in response to the topic of Yao Ming.

We are extremely troubled by these incidents because they exhibit ignorance and a lack of concern over our nation’s cultural diversity. This country has had to work very hard to become racially integrated and it is an ever-challenging process. Your shows should not be contributing to the perpetuation of dangerous stereotypes. Not only are these anti-Asian sentiments extremely offensive to the growing Asian Pacific American population, but they may be responsible for inciting anti-Asian sentiment that readily leads to racial violence. Our community has grown to over 12 million individuals and we have an estimated buying power of $250 billion. With these changing demographics, it does not make business sense for a network such as yours to alienate an important segment of American society.

We hope that you will address this issue seriously and responsibly. We believe that Tony Bruno should apologize on air to the Chinese American community and to the general listening audience for his racial insensitivity. Furthermore, you should take measures, such as diversity training for your radio hosts and program directors, to prevent similar further occurrences. We look forward to receiving a response from you and speaking with you further about improvements you hope to make. We thank you in advance for your attention to our concerns.

Sincerely,

Raymond Wong
OCA National President

Copy to:
David Hill
Chairman and CEO
Fox Sports Television
Fox Sports Networks, LLC
10,000 Santa Monica Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90067