The Associated Press reports that a college disc jockey who put on a radio show celebrating Ronald Reagan's death was fired today:
The University of Alaska tried to avoid a First Amendment law suit by saying the DJ was fired for violating station rules, rather than for what he said:Scott Hornyak, a 28-year-old undergraduate student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, had been suspended indefinitely from his disc jockey job at KSUA-FM after the Sunday show.
[. . .]
No tape of the show was available. But according to Hornyak, he berated Reagan, who died June 5, for his foreign policy in Latin America, Iraq and Afghanistan, and for his response to the AIDS epidemic.
Hornyak said the show was "a celebration that Ronald Reagan was dead, was finally dead," and that he told listeners he wanted to "walk over the newly laid dirt" on Reagan's grave.
Telling said the station received numerous complaints about the show.
Telling said Hornyak was suspended as a disc jockey solely because of his failure to obey the station's rules, not because of the inflammatory content of the show.
He said Hornyak did not fill out a log of the songs he played on air and did not play the station's standard disclaimers announcing that his views did not represent those of the station or the university.
If the DJ sues, the University will wind up settling for some undisclosed amount. The lyrics from the Eagles' tune "Get Over It" come to mind:
You haven't been the same since you had your little crash
But you might feel better if I gave you some cash
The more I think about it, Old Billy was right
Let's kill all the lawyers, kill 'em tonight
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