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Friday, October 26, 2007

[wvns] TV STATION DROPS ANTI-ISLAM PROGRAM

FLORIDA TV STATION DROPS ANTI-ISLAM PROGRAM


(TAMPA, FL) – The Tampa chapter of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations (CAIR-Tampa) announced today that a local television station
has dropped a program that promoted hatred of Islam and Muslims.

CAIR-Tampa said WTOG-TV (CW 44) dropped "Live Prayer with Bill Keller"
after the station and its parent company CBS received a letter from
and had discussions with the Islamic civil rights and advocacy group.

Keller told the St. Petersburg Times: "Ultimately, it was pressure by
CAIR that intimidated these people into taking me off the air. It was
not mutually agreeable. They told me they were taking me off the air,
period."

SEE: Televangelist: I Lost My Show Over Muslim Remarks (St. Petersburg
Times)

In its letter to CBS President Tom Kane and WTOG-TV's general manager,
CAIR-Tampa Executive Director Ahmed Bedier wrote:

"In the hate-filled program, `Live Prayer with Bill Keller,' Islam and
Muslims are referred to in the most vicious and bigoted of terms. For
example on May 2, 2007, host Bill Keller said: `Islam is a
1400-year-old lie from the pits of hell. It's leading a billion
peoples [sic] to hell. . .those who follow this false religion will
die and be lost for all eternity.' On the same program, he also said,
`The false religion of Islam is about hate, lies and death.'

"It is our belief that anti-Islamic rhetoric like that used in `Live
Prayer with Bill Keller' is exactly the type of language that is
likely to incite hate crimes against the American Muslim community."

To view examples of Bill Keller's Anti-Muslim Bigotry, go to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bF33pcljDRU

"While we strongly support freedom of speech and religion, the public
airwaves should not be used to promote hatred and bigotry," Bedier
said today. "We commend WTOG-TV and CBS for rejecting any association
with those who would demonize a minority group."

Bedier noted that a Muslim family's home in Sarasota, Fla., was
recently torched by arsonists who spray-painted Islamophobic slurs on
the walls.

CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, has 33 offices
and chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance the
understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties,
empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice
and mutual understanding.

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