Anti-Muslim comments draw heat

5-1-2004

By Holly Lebowitz Rossi

BOSTON, Indystar -- A Boston-area radio talk-show host made bigoted anti-Muslim remarks on his program and should be fired, a national Muslim civil liberties group charges.

Jay Severin, who hosts the weekday program "Extreme Games" on WTTK-FM radio in Boston, referred to Muslims as "a fifth column" in America, adding, "The reason they (Muslims) are here is to take over our culture and eventually take over our country."

Later in the program, when discussing whether Americans should befriend Muslims, Severin told a caller, "You think we should befriend them; I think we should kill them."

After a listener alerted the Council on American-Islamic Relations to the comments, the group demanded April 23 that Severin be fired. It renewed its call Tuesday after a Boston Globe reporter obtained a copy of the show in question and revealed that the comments were "even worse than what had initially been reported," said Nihad Awad, CAIR's executive director.

Following the Globe report, Severin addressed the issue on his show.

"To anyone who may have been offended by misunderstanding or misconstruing my remarks, I want you to know that I regret that. This is never my intention," he said.