In January, the radio program “Fair Game with Faith Salie” aired a skit intending to mock presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee. Instead, the show set off Catholics because of its disgusting depiction of the Eucharist. The skit aired on Utah’s National Public Radio station, KCPW.
The following is a transcript of the offensive segment:
[Woman’s voice]: And now another Huckabee family recipe leaked by his opponents.
[Male Voice]: Tired of bland unsatisfying Eucharists? Try this Huckabee family favorite. Deep-Fried Body of Christ—boring holy wafers no more. Take one Eucharist. Preferably post transubstantiation. Deep-fry in fat, not vegetable oil, ladies, until crispy. Serve piping hot. Mike likes to top his Christ with whipped cream and sprinkles. But his wife Janet and the boys like theirs with heavy gravy and cream puffs. It goes great with red wine.
[Woman’s voice]: Now that is just ridiculous. Everyone knows evangelicals don’t believe in transubstantiation.
The Catholic League lodged a complaint with KCPW. We argued that this type of offensive material would have been considered over-the-top for a shock-jock station, never mind a station that is funded by taxpayers.
Initially, officials at KCPW tried to pressure the Catholic League into removing contact information about the station from our website. As usual the league stood its ground.
We are happy to note, however, that the producers of the show, Public Radio International, called Bill Donohue to apologize and pulled the skit from its rotation, as well as from the show’s archives. Importantly, it also issued an on-air apology. In other words, they acted responsibly in the end.
