Boycott ABC, Disney, Fil-Am groups urge

By Nimfa U. Rueda (Philippine Daily Inquirer)

October 6, 2007

LOS ANGELES--Filipino-American groups in the United States have called for a boycott of the ABC television network and its parent company, Walt Disney, after a top network executive said a broadcast apology for the perceived racial slur on the "Desperate Housewives" show was unlikely.

"I don't think they [ABC] are taking us seriously," Rico Foz, spokesperson for the National Alliance for Filipino Concerns (Nafcon), has said following a meeting that he and several other Filipino-American community leaders had in New York City with Robert Mendez, the network's senior vice president for diversity and talent development.

Foz said they had asked ABC to broadcast a public apology during the show's next episode, and "Mendez told us, 'It's going to be tough.'"

A broadcast apology was one of the demands presented to Mendez at the hour-long meeting that was followed by a protest rally in front of the ABC studios in New York City. More than a hundred protesters denounced the remark made in a recent episode by the character played by Teri Hatcher maligning Filipino health professionals.

Foz said they also demanded a cultural sensitivity training for network staff, more shows depicting Filipinos and other minority groups as "prominent, positive role models," and support for Filipino-American projects that will strengthen diversity awareness.

Mendez said he will discuss these demands with the network management, he said.

One of the speakers at the protest rally was New York City council member John Liu, the first Asian-American to be elected to citywide office in New York. Liu called on other minority groups to support the groups' demands.

In California, a Fil-Am council member of Walnut, a Los Angeles county suburb, also threw his support behind the Fil-Am groups and said all minority groups should come together to combat racism. "We don't want this to happen to any community," said Tony Cartagena, who has served as city mayor for two terms.