A Florida lawmaker is calling on the University of Florida to discontinue broadcasting a nationally syndicated radio show which he says pokes fun at people with disabilities.
The show, “Lex and Terry,” includes a segment with a man who has an intellectual disability and three other individuals pretending to have similar disabilities. Callers are asked to determine which person actually has the disability.
Florida state Rep. Joe Abruzzo calls the segment “sick” and says he doesn’t believe the program should be aired on the University of Florida’s campus radio station since the university receives public funding.
Abruzzo’s letter to the university’s president has not garnered any response, reports WPTV, the West Palm Beach, Fla. NBC affiliate.
DISGUSTING!
This is one of the sickest things I have ever heard of! How the hell did such a program get approval? Surely, the university has to approve content before it is broadcast. Anyone who was involved in this program should be fired!
Before any of you make a snap judgment on this particular morning show maybe you should crawl out of your tiny bubbles and actually do some research on these two individuals. If you would go to their website you would see that they are currently raising money for autism research by organizing I believe three different motorcycle rides in Dallas and in Florida. People like you two are whats wrong with this country. They have the right to their opinions and that is all it is so instead of making judgments maybe you should do some research first.
Sincerely,
Lex and Terry Fan from North Dakota.
Here are the facts, laid out in an appropriate, non-biased way.
FACT: Lex and Terry do have a radio bit called “The Mental Challenge.” The aim of the contestant is to guess who is “mentally challenged” from a group of 4-6 individuals. This is true.
However, the hosts SPECIFICALLY forbid players who were born with a disability from participating. It’s only open to people who, by the own ignorance or misfortune, caused mental impairment. Example: a gentleman who was drunk and drove his motorcycle into a tree at 80 MPH.
FACT: Lex and Terry do broadcast to the “lowest common denominator” as it were. They are a morning radio program whose purpose (for radio stations) is to drive ratings and advertising revenue. Their show often consists of sophomoric humor and “fart jokes” as do most morning radio shows of the same ilk. They make no bones about this, and freely admit it.
FACT: Rock 104 in Gainesville, while located on UF property, is NOT bankrolled by University funds. It is a COMMERCIAL (that is key) radio station that actually pays rent to the University for the building from where they broadcast. Being a COMMERCIAL station, it is driven by ratings and ad revenue. There are ZERO taxpayer dollars that fund this station. Public funding (as noted above) is not funneled into the station.
FACT: Lex and Terry have a rich philanthropic history. Their annual “Ticket To Ride” is a corporate-sponsored motorcycle ride whose proceeds are donated to the Autism Society of America. This ride (which recently expanded to at least two other cities) was started in 2002, and has raised at least $375,000 to $400,000 (conservative estimates) for the ASA.
This entire story is so drastically overblown and inaccurate that it’s a real shame people aren’t doing any fact-checking before falling victim to the mob mentality.