Former US Presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush Sr will arrive in Colombo on Sunday 20th February 2005, to meet with Sri Lanka’s Head of State, President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratungaand inspect the devastation
caused by the tsunami of 26th December 2004.
Bill Clinton and George Bush Sr will visit the shattered town of Matara and see the efforts made by American aid agencies to re-build and re-construct the devastated areas of Sri Lanka.
Clinton and Bush arrive in Colombo amidst some controversy. Hot 97, a Hip Hop radio station in New York, broadcast a racist tsunami song on the Early Morning Show, presented by Miss Tarsha Jones. The song laughed at the dead and the dying, it was aired for over a week on Hot 97. Miss Jones was given a temporary suspension by Emmis Radio, the parent company for two weeks. She is now back on the air. Demonstrations have taken place outside Hot 97 radio station.Sri Lankans in New York have joined in the protests.
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The tsunami song poked fun at the dead. Sri Lanka lost over 40,000 people in the tsunami. Angry Sri Lankans are now calling on US President George Bush to fine Emmis Radio and Hot 97 for airing the cruel tsunami song. The leading Sunday Island newspaper in a major feature written by NAN in Colombo denounced Hot 97 and said the song was ‘Disgusting racism, innuendo and sheer bad taste.’
Clinton and Bush have been urged to comment on the de-humanisation of the tsunami victims in Sri Lanka in the lyrics of the song aired over the American radio station in New York.
To listen to Hot 97’s tsunami song please access the Asian Media Watch website:
http://www.asianmediawatch.net/missjones/index.html
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