L.A. Mayor Attacks KFI's John And Ken In Speech

Ken, John On KTLA

In a speech at the the NATIONAL HISPANIC MEDIA COALITION's awards luncheon, LOS ANGELES Mayor ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA departed from his text praising Spanish-language hosts to take a shot at CLEAR CHANNEL Talk KFI-A/LOS ANGELES afternoon hosts JOHN KOBYLT and KEN CHIAMPOU. VILLARAIGOSA called JOHN AND KEN "hatemongers... two people who get on the radio every day, who share a commitment of dividing AMERICA, who demonize our immigrants... shame on you."

Interviewed by CW affiliate KTLA (TV), JOHN KOBYLT responded by saying the Mayor's comment was "exactly right. We're dividing. It's American citizens versus those who are breaking the law and costing us tens of billions of dollars." CHAMPIOU called the comments as like "a declaration of war, there was emotion and anger and passion in his voice. He did what all politicians do, he refers to the issue, to the UNITED STATES as a nation of immigrants, and he completely only talks about immigration, never dividing it into the categories you have to divide: there are legal immigrants and there are illegal immigrants." KOBYLT, watching a videotape of the Mayor's speech, laughed that "I think he's gonna challenge us to a fight."

KOBYLT tells ALL ACCESS that the KTLA tape of the Mayor's speech was heavily edited, and that he and KEN will have the complete tape, with their commentary, on their FRIDAY afternoon show.  Meanwhile, the KTLA report has been posted by KFI's CLAY ROE on the station's web site; see it by clicking here.

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