NEW YORK — On Jan. 26, the four-member morning team of HOT 97, a hip-hop radio station, was suspended for airing the “Tsunami Song” — a spoof of the recent South Asian disaster set to the tune of “We Are the World.” The piece — racial epithets, graphic images and all — aired for several days until irate listeners demanded it be stopped.

The song first played on Jan. 18 and included lyrics like: “You can hear the screaming chinks … there were Africans drowning, little Chinamen swept away … God laughing ‘Swim you b-tches swim’ … go find your mommy I just saw her float by, a tree went through her head … now your children will be sold to child slavery.”

The show’s co-host, Miss Info, who is Asian American, was the lone opponent of the song and was openly chastised by her African American counterparts for her disapproval.

“That song is really offensive to me, and I opted not to involve myself,” Miss Info said, to which morning host Tarsha Nicole Jones, a.k.a. Miss Jones, replied, “I know you feel you’re superior because you’re Asian.” Another co-host, Todd Lynn, later said, “I’m going to start shooting Asians.”

In response to complaints, the managers of WQHT-FM issued an apology and said that the team would contribute one week’s pay to the relief efforts.
Miss Jones apologized on air for her “poor decision to go along with playing that insulting, to say the least, tsunami song.”

“I should have known better, and I didn’t,” she said. “So I’m sorry, and hopefully we can move forward from this, or I can move forward from this being a better hostess because I am better than that, and I know better than that — and you deserve better radio than that.”

Organizations like Asian Media Watch and the Korean American Coalition said that the apology was inadequate and that more severe disciplinary actions should be taken.

“We’ve issued a statement apologizing for what aired,” a spokeswoman for Emmis Communications, which owns the radio station, told KoreAm on Jan. 25. “The host apologized. The situation is very regrettable, and other than that, that’s what the statement is.”

The next day, WQHT and Emmis released a joint statement, announcing that the four-person team was “indefinitely suspended” following the uproar over the controversial spoof.

“While Miss Jones has apologized on the air, in the media and on the HOT 97 Web site, station management felt that stronger action was necessary to demonstrate the severity of the situation. Emmis Radio and HOT 97 will not tolerate such derogatory and racially insensitive content.”