“Tavis Smiley Lacks the Character and Financial Qualifications To Be a Commission Licensee.” That’s the message of a petition to deny Smiley a license for KBLA-AM from the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America filing on Tuesday with the FCC.
The UCCA has filed a supplement to their petition to deny the assignment application of radio station KBLA from Multicultural Radio Broadcasting Licensee, LLC to Smiley Radio Properties, Inc. The petition raises concerns about the character and financial qualifications of Tavis Smiley, who is an officer, director, and 100% shareholder of SRP.
It references allegations of sexual misconduct against Smiley during his time as a talk-show host on PBS, leading to the termination of his contract and a subsequent lawsuit. The petition argues that Smiley’s actions raise questions about his character qualifications to be an FCC licensee.
It also highlights a judgment filed by PBS against Smiley’s production company, TS Media, Inc., and the ongoing bankruptcy proceedings involving TSM. The UCCA calls for further investigation by the FCC into Smiley’s conduct and financial situation to determine his suitability as a licensee.
I question the justification for calling Ukrainians bigots, but a quick look at the history of UCCA reveals an organization dedicated to the creation of a free Ukraine. Are they all really racist or are they Nationalists? This smacks of the same propaganda we heard from Putin and the Kremlin that Ukraine was being run by Nazi’s even thought their president is himself, Jewish. Here’s a historical note from Wikipedia.
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At the close of the war, a delegation of Ukrainian-American representatives which had been elected at the second Congress in 1944, flew to San Francisco to advocate on behalf of a free Ukraine during the formation of the United Nations, convening at the Conference on International Organization in May 1945.[14] Contrary to the hopes of the UCCA delegates, Soviet-occupied Ukraine was officially recognized as a member state of the United Nations in June 1945.
In light of the developments at the United Nations, Ukrainian-Americans gathered again in Washington, DC, at the Almas Temple on May 31, 1946.[22] At the “Third Congress of Americans of Ukrainian Descent,” a unified national platform was agreed upon, supporting a non-isolationist U.S. foreign policy, to confront an emergent “totalitarian-imperialistic U.S.S.R.” Furthermore, the ideals incorporated into the 1941 Atlantic Charter as delineated by President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill, were formally embraced by the delegates at the third Congress, as well as President Roosevelt’s goals of Freedom of speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from fear; otherwise referred to as the “Four Freedoms.” As with the second Congress, there were no elected US officials in attendance at the third Congress, although Fred Zaplitny, a member of the Canadian House of Commons did attend and delivered greetings from his fellow Ukrainian Canadians.[23]
This is a pathetic attempt by inherently-racist Ukrainians, to appeal to the far-right wing propaganda machine, which has been regularly challenged by Tavis Smiley in his commentaries and written missives. The Ukrainians are feeding their desperate fears of Vladimir Putin winning the full support and fealty of the Trump-ulation, by trying to take down one of the far-right’s most articulate critics. This move is masked as an attempt to exact revenge on Multicultural owner Arthur Liu, who has leased fulltime use of his WZHF-1390 in Washington to Russian propagandists. Tavis’ racial makeup is a mere convenience to the desires of the Ukrainians, who generally base their lives on bigotry and prejudice; meanwhile Tavis Smiley is providing a much-needed voice to a large minority plurality in Los Angeles, which could be silenced by this petulant and irresponsible act orchestrated by Ukrainian bigots. (Incidentally, none of this is meant to justify Vladimir Putin’s murderous actions in his ill-advised aggression against Ukraine. The entire situation is much more complicated than that which can be perceived by the average world-ignorant American.)