Starr
August 10th, 2005, 07:49 PM
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/08/10/KNBR.TMP
Beleaguered talk-show host Larry Krueger has lost his job at KNBR -- and two other station employees also were fired late Tuesday night.
Longtime program director Bob Agnew and Tony Rhein, the producer of KNBR's morning show, were let go by the station. The announcement was made around 10:15 p.m. Tuesday in a statement issued by senior vice president Tony Salvadore on KNBR's Web site.
On "Sportsphone 680" last Wednesday night, Krueger made reference to the Giants' "brain-dead Caribbean hitters hacking at slop nightly." That led to Krueger getting a suspension that was due to end this Monday.
Giants manager Felipe Alou refused to accept an apology from Krueger. Alou appeared on ESPN's "Outside the Lines" program Monday night and called Krueger "this messenger of Satan, as I call this guy now. ... And I believe there is no forgiveness for Satan." (LMWAO)
On Tuesday morning, KNBR aired Alou's sound bite from "Outside the Lines" and then parodied it with Satan references from the Comedy Central show "South Park."
That apparently was the impetus for Rhein's dismissal -- and might have had something to do with the termination of Agnew, who had been with KNBR since 1989.
"The segment, featuring inappropriate comedy sound bites," Salvadore wrote in the statement, "demonstrated an utter lack of regard for the sensitivity of the issues involved and a premeditated intent to ridicule Felipe Alou's commentary."
On his Tuesday night KRON (Channel 4) sportscast, Gary Radnich, the midmorning host on KNBR, said Giants executive vice president Larry Baer and the team were not behind the decision to remove Krueger, Agnew and Rhein.
"KNBR deeply regrets the comments and actions of these individuals," Salvadore said in the statement, "which do not reflect our beliefs or values as an organization. We would like to express our deepest apologies to Felipe Alou, his players and the Giants' organization for this offense to the Caribbean community :rolleyes: ."
Alou had termed the one-week suspension of Krueger "a slap on the hand, nothing," and the Giants' manager had stopped appearing on his KNBR pregame show.
In a statement Friday, the Giants backed Alou's comments about Krueger.
"As a baseball team (with) a very deep and rich Latin history," the statement read, "we want to let our fans both here in the Bay Area and around the world know that these types of characterizations of members of our organization are unacceptable."
On Saturday, Alou continued his criticism of Krueger, saying that people from several countries that comprise the Caribbean "were offended by that idiot. This guy offended hundreds of millions of Caribbeans." (I guess referring to someone as the "messenger of Satan" and calling them an idiot is perfectly acceptable if you are a precious "minority")
Giants shortstop Omar Vizquel had compared Krueger's comments with the offensive ones made by former Atlanta reliever John Rocker in a Sports Illustrated article in 1999. ( The fool Rocker apologizes and is still held up as some sort of "evil racist" symbol when things like this happen, who would have known.lol)Krueger was with KNBR for more than eight years.
Beleaguered talk-show host Larry Krueger has lost his job at KNBR -- and two other station employees also were fired late Tuesday night.
Longtime program director Bob Agnew and Tony Rhein, the producer of KNBR's morning show, were let go by the station. The announcement was made around 10:15 p.m. Tuesday in a statement issued by senior vice president Tony Salvadore on KNBR's Web site.
On "Sportsphone 680" last Wednesday night, Krueger made reference to the Giants' "brain-dead Caribbean hitters hacking at slop nightly." That led to Krueger getting a suspension that was due to end this Monday.
Giants manager Felipe Alou refused to accept an apology from Krueger. Alou appeared on ESPN's "Outside the Lines" program Monday night and called Krueger "this messenger of Satan, as I call this guy now. ... And I believe there is no forgiveness for Satan." (LMWAO)
On Tuesday morning, KNBR aired Alou's sound bite from "Outside the Lines" and then parodied it with Satan references from the Comedy Central show "South Park."
That apparently was the impetus for Rhein's dismissal -- and might have had something to do with the termination of Agnew, who had been with KNBR since 1989.
"The segment, featuring inappropriate comedy sound bites," Salvadore wrote in the statement, "demonstrated an utter lack of regard for the sensitivity of the issues involved and a premeditated intent to ridicule Felipe Alou's commentary."
On his Tuesday night KRON (Channel 4) sportscast, Gary Radnich, the midmorning host on KNBR, said Giants executive vice president Larry Baer and the team were not behind the decision to remove Krueger, Agnew and Rhein.
"KNBR deeply regrets the comments and actions of these individuals," Salvadore said in the statement, "which do not reflect our beliefs or values as an organization. We would like to express our deepest apologies to Felipe Alou, his players and the Giants' organization for this offense to the Caribbean community :rolleyes: ."
Alou had termed the one-week suspension of Krueger "a slap on the hand, nothing," and the Giants' manager had stopped appearing on his KNBR pregame show.
In a statement Friday, the Giants backed Alou's comments about Krueger.
"As a baseball team (with) a very deep and rich Latin history," the statement read, "we want to let our fans both here in the Bay Area and around the world know that these types of characterizations of members of our organization are unacceptable."
On Saturday, Alou continued his criticism of Krueger, saying that people from several countries that comprise the Caribbean "were offended by that idiot. This guy offended hundreds of millions of Caribbeans." (I guess referring to someone as the "messenger of Satan" and calling them an idiot is perfectly acceptable if you are a precious "minority")
Giants shortstop Omar Vizquel had compared Krueger's comments with the offensive ones made by former Atlanta reliever John Rocker in a Sports Illustrated article in 1999. ( The fool Rocker apologizes and is still held up as some sort of "evil racist" symbol when things like this happen, who would have known.lol)Krueger was with KNBR for more than eight years.