Toronto Radio: CFNY-FM's Blundell Apologizes For Gay Remarks

Dean Blundell

A Toronto shock-jock show host has apologized for making "homophobic" jokes about a sexual assault trial for which the show's producer and co-host served as jury foreman.

According to ourwindsor.ca, the apology came a day after a judge rejected a call for an inquiry into the conduct of Derek Welsman, who gabbed and chortled about the case before and after the verdict on the Dean Blundell Show on CFNY-FM 1021 FM The Edge.

Welsman was the foreman of a jury that convicted a man for sexually assaulting three men he met at a Toronto bathhouse.

"We both made rude, homophobic and inappropriate remarks, which were offensive and unacceptable. We offended a lot of listeners, our families and our friends," Dean Blundell said in an audio clip posted to the show's website Wednesday.

"Those conversations were not entertaining. They were plain and simply wrong. For this, I sincerely apologize."

On air, he and the other radio personalities guffawed as they mocked gay men who visit bathhouses and the intelligence of the sex assault victims. They snickered as they imagined the perpetrator's excitement for prison showers.

The Dean Blundell Show has been repeatedly sanctioned for homophobic and discriminatory views, the most recent censure coming in August. In that case, the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council required the radio station to submit a plan outlining how it will "ensure that no other breaches" occur in its broadcasts.

Corus Entertainment, which owns CFNY, said Welsman and Blundell's comments do not represent the views of the company.  The company posted this statement on the station website:

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