Chronicle radio writer Ben Fong-Torres has more today on Free FM’s controversial firing of afternoon host John London (pictured). London tells Fong-Torres that his firing was ordered by CBS Radio chief executive Joel Hollander, over the objections of local general manager Ken Kohl. Kohl isn’t talking about it beyond saying that London is no longer at the station. London was fired April 6 after attacking Penn Jillette, the comic magician who does a one-hour show before London, for saying how much he hated Mother Teresa. Jillette she got her “kinks watching people suffer and die.” London responded: “Penn Jillette has said on a number of occasions that words do not hurt people. We should be able to say whatever we want, in the open marketplace of ideas. So here’s a little string of sentences for ya: How about if I give somebody $5,000 to kill ya? I’ll add $2,000 to that if there’s some suffering attached to it. … The whole thing was obviously a joke, and it was never mentioned again for the entirety of the show.” London suggested that CBS is protecting Jillette because its parent company owns Jillette’s show on the Showtime network.
More dirt about John London's firing
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