Last week during two morning news casts on WBZ TV news reporter, David Robichaud was discussing whether or not the Boston Bruins should retaliate for a cheap shot by another team that left one of their players unconscious. Robichaud asked if the Bruins would be “Sissies” if they choose not to retaliate.
The definition of the word Sissy is;
1. A boy or man regarded as effeminate.
2. A person regarded as timid or cowardly.
3. An offensive derogatory term for a boy or man who is considered not to exhibit stereotypical masculine behavior, especially by other boys or men.
In the state of Massachusetts our government was debating an anti bullying bill. There has been an increase in kid on kid violence nation wide. Many Gay men have grown up with the term "Sissy" hurled at them before being bashed. David Robichaud and WBZ news have the privilege of entering our homes every morning. His use of the word "Sissy" to describe grown men on the airwaves, while adults and children watched the program in our homes is a violation of the public trust.
In light of this, we see it as an irresponsible use of the word by this reporter. During a Direct Action last weekend where the LGBTQ community left comments asking for an apology, Robichaud criticized a Gay man for using the word "Queer". He continued to receive comments, emails and phone calls by members of the LGBTQ community across the nation and beyond. Finally on Monday morning Robichaud left a statement in a note addressed to his Facebook friends acknowledging his poor choice of words and that they were offensive.
As he used the word on the air and in doing so came into our homes, we are demanding that he read his Facebook statement on the air during the morning news cast. He failed to do so this morning. Please follow the links below to contact David Robichaud and WBZ to add your voice in demanding an on air reading of this statement by using all of the contact links below.
David Robichaud on Twitter http://twitter.com/robiwbz
on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/note.php?note_id=376198020274&comments
General Contact WBZ News at http://wbztv.com/contact
WBZ Phone number - 617-787-7000
WBZ FaceBook Page - http://www.facebook.com/robi#!/wbztv
WBZ on Twitter - http://twitter.com/wbz
He has now restricted his main page so we can only leave comments to his questions. We should do this as well.
Michael for
Queer Rising Boston
Posts
You wrote "Robichaud asked if the Bruins would be 'Sissies' if they choose not to retaliate". This is incorrect. The correct statement would be "Robichaud asked if Bruins fans would think the Bruins would be 'Sissies' if they choose not to retaliate". You're only exacerbating the problem by putting words into Mr. Robichaud's mouth that he never uttered.
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering how many actual viewers have called or wrote to complain about Mr. Robichaud's seemingly harmless comment? No offense to WBZ, but with their morning ratings in the tank, I doubt there were many, if any. I suspect most, if not all of the complaints being lodged against Mr. Robichaud and WBZ are coming from those of you with an agenda. I can assure you that the only thing coming out of this whole ordeal is that the LGBTQ community is making itself look pretty bad in the eyes of those of us who are not part of the LGBTQ community.
Look, while that word does appear to have hurtful connotations, it is clearly & unequivocally obvious to all parties that it was not used by Mr. Robichaud with any malice towards the LGBTQ community. You all have succeeded in educating Mr. Robichaud and many of us other ignorant people, and I'm certain the S-word will not be uttered again on-air by Mr. Robichaud or others at WBZ.
So, why the continued tirade? Why continue this unnecessary fight for an on-air apology from Mr. Robichaud, to be directed towards people who were very far removed from the original comment?
Why not play nice and instead of making "demands", why not inquire WBZ if they would be willing to do a story related to the LGBTQ community and the use of language such as "sissy", and how it adversely affects teenagers? Why not be proactive rather than reactive?
As for your last paragraph, why do you assume I've done none of these things?
ReplyDeleteAs for why not play nice, We are not ready to play nice until we have full equality.
Michael,
ReplyDeleteI just stumbled upon this 'issue'. You have a chip on your shoulder, and you see homophobes where there are none.
I often think Anonymous comments are kind of cowardly. Having said that, I might have a chip on my shoulder when it comes to protecting Gay youth and the Gay community. I fear it will remain there until no more Gay kids are bullied and my community has full equal rights.
ReplyDeleteAs for David Robichaud my anonymous friend, he apologized for the use of the word in a very public way on his FaceBook page. I think he came to understand the use of the word was hurtful to some viewers. I always feel good about an action that educates another person.
Hint Hint Hint my anonymous commenter.