Five More Advertisers Abandon Michael Savage’s Hate-Filled Radio Show

Posted by Matt Corley, Think Progress at 5:11 AM on February 12, 2008.

In November 2007, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) kicked off a campaign urging "radio listeners of all faiths to contact companies that advertise on Michael Savage's nationally-syndicated radio program to express their concerns" about the conservative radio host's anti-minority tirades. Since then, Brave New Films and a coalition of interfaith leaders have joined CAIR in the campaign under the banner of Hate Hurts America.

Savage responded to the campaign by suing CAIR for copyright infringement and Fox News rose to his defense. But the advertisers have been paying attention to the Hate Hurts America initiative. On Friday, the group announced that five more advertisers have dropped "The Savage Nation":

The Hate Hurts America Community and Interfaith Coalition (HHA) today announced that five more radio advertisers have joined a growing list of companies that have stopped advertising or refuse to place their ads on Michael Savage's "Savage Nation" radio program.

HHA said the advertisers - ITT Technical Institute, Chattem, Inc. (owners of Gold Bond, Icy Hot, and Selsun Blue), Union Bank of California, Intuit (parent company of TurboTax and QuickBooks), and GEICO Insurance - dropped their commercials after being contacted by visitors to the newly-created "No Savage" website.

According to CAIR, "US Cellular, Sprint Nextel, Sears, Universal Orlando Resorts, AutoZone, Citrix, TrustedID, JCPenney, OfficeMax, Wal-Mart, and AT&T" have also stopped advertising on Savage's show. Brave New Films has a list of contact info for advertisers who are continuing to advertise with Savage.

Here are a few examples of the hate Savage has spewed over the years:

- "90 percent of the people on the Nobel Committee are into child pornography and molestation." -- Michael Savage [12/12/07]

- "Notice what this double-talking slut just did, this mind-slut Barbara Walters. And I stick by those words. She's an empty mind-slut." -- Michael Savage [3/16/07]

- Madeline Albright is "a traitor. In my opinion, she should be tried for treason, and when she's found guilty, she should be hung." -- Michael Savage [10/9/06]

- The U.S. Senate is "more vicious and more histrionic than ever, specifically because women have been injected into" it. -- Michael Savage [9/12/06]

- To "save the United States," lawmakers should institute an "outright ban on Muslim immigration" and on "the construction of mosques." -- Michael Savage [11/27/06]

Hate Hurts America's petition calling for advertisers to boycott Savage is here.

Tagged as: radio, broadcasting, savage, right wing media

Matt Corley is a Research Associate for The Progress Report and ThinkProgress.org at the Center for American Progress.