Thursday, September 12, 2019

NOLA Radio: Gay Slur Appears On WWL Twitter Account


Nearly 24 hours after someone at WWL 870 AM / 105.9 Radio used the company's official Twitter account Tuesday to direct a gay slur at a fellow employee, executives at the station had said little publicly beyond a statement that they're looking into the matter.

According to gambit.com, the tweet, which called evening sports host Seth Dunlap a "fag," was deleted within minutes but not before many people screen-captured it. The story went national overnight on sports websites.

Dunlap is gay, which many listeners just learned about last week when he wrote an extensive Facebook post about the challenges he's experienced in sports media as a gay man.


The station hasn't issued any other statement on its webpage or social media accounts.

WWL-TV reported that station management was told they weren't allowed to speak until Entercom, which is based in Pennsylvania, investigates the matter.

The investigation is complicated by the fact that Entercom has been attacked by hackers this week in a "ransomware" attack, with staffers unable to access emails and other electronic files, as reported by the industry website Radio Insight — though there's no indication that the tweet is related to the ransomware matter.

Sources at the station have said the investigation also is complicated by the fact that several people have access to the station's Twitter account.


Kevin Cassidy, WWL Radio's senior vice president, sent a memo to staff today in support of Dunlap. Cassidy said he was "personally disgusted" by the tweet and said the company was "taking all possible steps" to identify who sent it. "This does not represent us nor will it," Cassidy concluded.

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