Sean Hannity got his start in radio on UC Santa Barbara’s KCSB in the late 1980s, where he got in trouble for promoting homophobia and disinformation about HIV and AIDS. I wrote about this in a 2003 Extra! profile of the then-Fox News show Hannity & Colmes:
After airing for less than a year, Hannity’s weekly show was canceled in 1989, when KCSB management charged him with “discriminating against gays and lesbians” after airing two shows featuring the book The AIDS Coverup: The Real and Alarming Facts About AIDS (Independent, 6/22/89). Written by homophobic Christian-right activist Gene Antonio, the book crankily argued that AIDS could be spread by casual contact, including coughs, sneezes and mosquito bites. Antonio charged that the government, medical establishment and media covered up these truths in the service of “the homosexual movement.”
When Antonio appeared by phone on one of the shows, Hannity and his guest repeatedly slurred gay men. At one point, according to the UCSB campus newspaper the Daily Nexus (5/25/89), Hannity declared: “Anyone listening to this show that believes homosexuality is a normal lifestyle has been brainwashed. It’s very dangerous if we start accepting lower and lower forms of behavior as the normal.” According to the campus paper, Antonio responded by calling gay men “a subculture of people engaged in deviant, twisted acts.”
When a fellow KCSB broadcaster called the show to challenge the host and his guest, Hannity pointed out that the caller, a lesbian, had a child through artificial insemination, and Antonio dubbed the child a “turkey-baster baby.” When the caller took issue with that “disgusting” remark, Hannity followed up with “I feel sorry for your child” (Independent, 6/22/89; KCSB, 4/4/89).
This information as indicated was gleaned from local Santa Barbara and UCSB print media. At the time, I was unable to get audio of Hannity’s KCSB shows, a situation now remedied by KCSB programmers Elizabeth Robinson and Richard Flacks, who have packaged two of the original Hannity shows in a station archival retrospective, “50 Years of People-Powered Radio.”
What Hannity said on the air more than 20 years ago would perhaps not be overly relevant today but for the fact that he has always denied being homophobic…and his homophobia continues: For instance, reacting to the 2009 Academy Awards broadcast featuring a montage of romantic film kisses (not exactly a new feature of cinema), Hannity paraphrased his wife in protesting the inclusion of same-sex kisses in the montage (Hannity, 2/23/09): “They keep showing the scenes of men kissing. And I’m thinking, do we have to expose our children to more and more sex, more and more violence, you know, more and more controversy?”
Isn’t it interesting how the perverts are often so obsessed with “perversion”?
per·vert (vt)
1. lead somebody away from good: to lead somebody or something away from what is considered good, normal, moral, or proper
2. misinterpret or distort something: to misinterpret or distort something such as a piece of text
3. use something improperly: to use something incorrectly or improperly
Another enlightening aspect of Hannity’s career is his connection to neo-nazi Hal Turner as documented by FAIR and Max Blumenthal.
This connection is even more interesting in that all the GOP candidates for the 2012 nomination regularly appear on Hannity’s radio and television programs and shower him with praise.
Inasmuch as Mitt Romney’s campaign, as well as the other GOP candidates’ campaigns are capable of doing elementary searches such as mine, here, below, why are they still routinely appearing on Hannity’s programs, given such easy access to his execrable history as a career racist and homophobe bigot ?
http://www.thenation.com/article/hannitys-soul-mate-hate
http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=hannity+hal+turner&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
Blah! I heard Hannity for a couple of minutes today and wanted to vomit. While curious, I think I will pass on listening to this.
I was a KCSB programmer at the time and remember the brouhaha well. The on-air crowd met with management to vote for or against censure, and – if memory serves – we were almost unanimous in voting for dismissal of Hannity and cancellation of his program.
It has been my experience, over the years, that it often turns out that those who espouse hate toward homosexuals are, in time, found to be homosexual themselves. Many families have a member that is homosexual. One last piece of information. There are 5 (five) known sexes within the human species. It is not discussed, much to my dismay. However, it is a known fact. It has to do with arrangement of chromosomes.
I truly suspect that Hannity, Rick Santorum, et.al, might very well be homosexual. Time will tell. Just saying.
I think it would be very difficult to spend 24 hours inside Mr. Hannity’s skin. He is clearly driven by fear which negates what native intelligence he might actually have. I also suspect that he may be paranoid that gay men may find him attractive. Of course, the man is handsome. But the paranoia his behavior and words reflects suggests the truth of what a couple of the other comments here have noted – homophobia often is rooted in doubts about one’s own sexuality. The best way to kill the doubts in the pit of one’s own soul is to bash the queer in the public realm. But don’t take my word for it. See the University of Georgia study on the phenomenon of homophobia rooted in homoerotic attraction: http://www.philosophy-religion.org/handouts/homophobia.htm
Well, yeah, A. Carole, of course Santorum’s gay. And Hannity. Remember Reverend Ted Haggard? He railed against homosexuals and other pervs–right up to the moment he was busted enjoying the pleasures of a gay prostitute (he was able to dis-engage his fevered perv-Christian mind for a while, God bless him). You’re right; judging from the way Santorum bitches about gaydom, I’d say he absolutely can’t think about anything but hot, gay, man-on-man action, all the time. Hannity? He’s gay, for sure, and I’m guessing he hates himself for it. I’d feel bad for both of them, but they’re both greedy, rotten, lying assholes, and they deserve to suffer their ignorances and perversions. Especially that crook Santorum—he’s a massive Catholic hypocrite to boot. At least he’s now got a bodily fluid of sorts named after him, and an “action”– to “rick” is to lick the uh, er, afore-mentioned effluent from, well, just Google it. This is a family website, and won’t let that pervert Santorum muck it up by referring to his gross and seedy doings anymore.
P.S.: “(N)ative intelligence”? C’mon Harry, one doesn’t have to be smart to make a success of an American life (see Regis Philbin, for instance), and Hannity’s a tremendous simpleton who’s quite wealthy. Thanks for that link, though!
REVISITING SEAN HANNITY Audio/Podcast from KCSB’s “50 Years of People Powered Radio” – KCSB-FM 91.9 .webarchive
Luckily I downloaded the broadcasts before they got nixed…. Ha Ha Ha Hanni-toad..
Just finished “In the Garden of the Beast” – about Germany 1933-34 – the Hannitys – Fox – Murdoch – Limbaugh – Gingrich – they are all there.
The Republican Party is not only a corrupt political organization it is made up of evil people – who at this point are only held back because they are not quite sure what they can get away with. What they have discovered in the last 4 years is that the Democrats are gutless with no backbone or philosophical foundation….just as the liberals and socialists in 1930’s Germany were….
Hoodsport take a chill pil.Your being rediculous.Overblowing the whole thing. These are simply people you don’t agree with(for their social views)Hannity is welcome to his opinion.I don’t agree with it ,but really it effects my life how?Talking heads are there to talk.They don’t tax you.Or declare war.I can disconnect them from my life with a wave of my hand on the dial.
Donald Trump is how it effects your life.
Well, one thing for sure, Hannity is certainly doing better than the other dude, what was his name, alan combs, or something like that, I mean when you think about it you have to sort of take a step backwards and say wow, its almost like the National Enquirer, over there, and even most of the media has become like a big giant tabloid. What I find to be of particular interest is that for the most part, people are beginning to turn to the Internet for its news, at least you can get a valid thought and not have to worry about someone telling lies for money…