DJ won’t apologize
Former radio announcer rants in video about free speech
Former Coast 101.1 radio announcer Joel North — who parted ways with the station last week after a sexist tweet he made to a 21-year-old woman — has made a video statement in response.
In the YouTube video, North says he won’t be apologizing for the tweet, in which he told the woman, who was playing video games live online, that she would get more viewers if she took off her clothes.
“I will not be apologizing. Doing so would signify an insult toward female strippers, who I have the utmost respect for, along with all women,” he said in the clip.
In the 10-minute video, which starts off as a comedy sketch about North’s unemployment before he changes into a suit and delivers his message in front of a wrinkled Newfoundland flag, he says the woman could have easily just blocked him on Twitter.
“Instead of simply moving on, an individual saw an opportunity to gain publicity and paint herself as a victim,” he said.
Kerri Neil thought that was rich, coming from a guy who’s been openly using the controversy to gain publicity for his podcast. Before deleting his personal Twitter account, he wrote a series of tweets thanking people who “took the bait” and saying he hoped for national news coverage.
“I found it so frustrating how he tried to turn this on the woman who shared it and say that she’s trying to use it for her career, and then immediately plugged his podcast,” Neil told The Telegram, a TC Media newspaper. “And now, on his podcast’s Twitter, he’s messaging all these right-wing media outlets to get media coverage that would put him in a good light.”
Neil said it’s obvious North just “doesn’t get it.”
“I don’t think that his statement really made him look better. I think it kind of made him look worse, because he’s just unwilling to accept what he did and acknowledge that it wasn’t OK, and move on from this. He wants everyone else to look bad,” she said.
North, who says he’s been getting threats of violence on social media since posting the original tweet, has also been getting messages of support. He said some have told him they were afraid to support him publicly, not wanting to face the same backlash he has.
Jenny Wright, executive director of the St. John’s Status of Women Council/Women’s Centre, said this particular controversy points to a larger problem on social media.
“Mr. North’s tweet and subsequent responses are quite simply a drop in the huge vat of online harassment women must deal with daily. It is toxic and harmful and has forced many strong voices to leave Twitter and other social media platforms — and that is a worrying trend that no one is addressing,” she said.
“Mr. North’s tweet received so much reaction here, because he is not a hidden troll, but a member of our community with a public platform.”