Fox News Radio Affiliate Pulls Plug on Minister's Talk Show Over Interview with LGBT Advocate
A Nevada-based Fox News Radio affiliate has reportedly canceled a talk show hosted by ordained minster Sean Savoy over an interview he conducted earlier this month with an LGBT advocate.
According to "House of Savoy" producer Eddie Floyd, KKFT-FM station manager Jerry Evans told him Savoy's August 12th interview with Will Kolb was the reason his 30-minute program was being canceled.
Savoy and the Dallas-based social commentator spent the interview discussing marriage equality, the Chick-fil-A controversy, and other topics of concern to the LGBT community.
"Mr. Evans and his company certainly have the right to control their opinion," Savoy told the website LGBTQ Nation. "But censoring any message that benefits the LGBT community is wrong and detracts from basic human rights. It means that he is gate keeping and not allowing the public to make their own informed decisions."
Savoy's show had been on the air for nearly a year. "I have conducted a variety of interviews with a wide range of people," he said, "and yet this was the topic that got my show cancelled."
In the wake of his termination, Savoy, who is a member of the International Community Of Christ, Second Advent Church, decided it was time to publicly acknowledge his own homosexuality for the first time. He had decided to come out earlier this year, but was still "living as a straight man" up until this week.
GLAAD President Herndon Graddick released the following statement addressing Savoy's sacking:
Pulling an entire show to avoid hearing anything positive about LGBT people hurts all people in Reno. By practicing such blatant discrimination, KKFT is sending a dangerous message that they believe LGBT people shouldn't be given voice or afforded basic respect.