New York radio personality DJ Cipha Sounds has been indefinitely suspended from his Hot 97 morning show after saying that he is HIV-negative because he abstains from relations with Haitian girls.
The comment was made last Friday when the show’s news reporter brought up a story about a campaign to stop AIDS in Haiti. “The reason I’m HIV negative is because I don’t mess with Haitian girls,” DJ Cipha Sounds, whose real name is Luiz Diaz remarked. He was roundly condemned by his co-hosts on the air as soon as made the statement.
DJ Cipha Sounds
That immediate condemnation did not stop Haitian activists from protesting outside of Hot 97′s Soho studios on Wednesday. Rodneyse Bichotte, the first Haitian to be elected to office in New York, and John Alexis, a Haitian leader from local union 1199, led the demonstration, calling for the popular DJ to be fired.
However, Hot 97 issued a statement on Wednesday saying Diaz would not be fired. Instead, he would suspended indefinitely and have to “undertake sensitivity training focused on the Haitian community and specifically the challenges the Haitian community has faced in terms of the HIV epidemic,” according to Emmis market manager Alex Cameron. Hot 97 will also use its influence “to increase awareness of HIV and community programs to address the epidemic.” The New York Board of Radio-Info.com is watching the latest developments.
Diaz has also apologized on the air for his remarks. “I made a stupid, tasteless joke that was a one-liner that was taken totally the wrong way,” he said. “I want to say sincerely that I apologize.”
This is not the first time Hot 97 has gotten in trouble for the on-air antics of their morning team. In August 2001, the station was forced to apologize after DJs played the sounds of a plane crashing to mock the death of pop star Aaliyah, who had just died in a plane crash. Then, in early 2005, the station’s then-morning team was fired for repeatedly playing “The Tsunami Song,” which mocked the victims of a huge ocean wave that killed thousands in Asia.
That incident was costly for parent broadcasting company Emmis, in terms of canceled advertising buys and community good will.
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I don’t understand why everyone is making such a big deal about what Cipha Sounds said. That show makes fun of every race and nationality. Anyone that regularly listens to the station knows that Jews are are common target of their humor. I have yet to hear of a Jewish protest.
Cipha’s comment is not about humour; it is contempt. It is ok to joke a bit about the indiosyncrasies of other cultures and nations.
This is a radio personality maybe who caries in his mind an embedded disrespect toward a whole nation of proud blacks; he just had the desire to verbally express it only now.
Haiti is a nation of blacks who negotiated the Dominican Republic second independence with Spain in 1865 free of charge, a nation of blacks who gave guns and amunitions for the liberation of Latin America to Simon Bolivar and Francisco de Miranda in 1815-16, a nation of blacks who paid the passage of free American blacks fleeing racism and injustice in America in 1822, 1824, 1861 to Haiti for a better life etc… a nation of blacks who is a pioneer of liberty and freedom for all races.
The least the Haitians can ask for is some fu&*c%$#@ng decent respect for a 500 year struggle for a better life from people around the world.
Thank you.
Man last time i checked slaver was over long before you so u need to move on and keep doing well in your life! That was the past why do we need to constantly hear about what was but we cant move on! Everybody doesnt want to forget the past but we cant move on!!! Please give it a rest!
But heres the thing about it many people have been making that type of joke and its not fair because aids is affected by ALL races and im haitian and i dont have aids neither does anyone in my family. its a rude and disrespectful comment. i feel very affended about it.
maybe koz u dt care much abt ur nationality or being a jewish,,,,we haitians do and that asshole should be fired..im haitian n im hiv negative koz i dt mess with his kind..
Where’s fatass Al Sharpton? Oh yeah, I forgot. He only shows his fat ass when it’s a jigaboo or a cop who makes a mistake!!
Oh so true. I am African American and I’m thinking the same thing (jiggaboo was not needed though) Where is Al Sharpton. I’m surprised he doesn’t have his face all over this. We need to unite and stand up for ALL issues affecting our community.
A jigaboo??? How are you any better than Cipha Sounds, if you’re making comments just as insulting and ignorant??
Telling the truth gets you fired in amerika , even if youre “hispanic” apparently!
The Haitain community up in in arms over his corny joke?? Gimme a break. Cypha Sounds and Rosenberg make fun of every nationality. They make jokes about their own nationalities. People are so quick to want someone fired over pettiness. Will you be happy when all media is PC?
It really was not that serious. It was a joke so get over it cry baby Haitians.
go fuck yourself Maribel, how would you feel when you go to school, or work pple making fun and talk behind your back wondering if you have HIV,i’ve been n da US since i was 16,i dt have any std’s bt now everybody seems to be scared of you koz of his dumb comment, that’s not a joke..he’s just an ignorant low life bitch..
the overall disdain came before and was embedded long before this comment by Cipha Sounds. do recall what went down in the 80′s during Reagan’s era… do remember how the Food and Drug Administration locked in on Haitians during the 90′s… this joke/comment pales in comparison. in fact, you have governments STILL shitting on Haiti; the FDA STILL launching barbs at Haiti, but you go after a radio station?
Its really foul how they could make this such an issue when they joke about all races and its a part of their show and what they do! That man reps harder for the hatian and carribean people more than his own but nobody remembers the good when someone messes up and in my opinion he didnt mess up! It was a joke and if the hatian people cant take a joke then they need o get a personality! There aremore important things going on in haiti to worry about than a NY DJ cracking jokes!!
@Snookumz513: I don’t think there is anything wrong with what DJ Cipha Sounds said. Would you sleep with a Haitian girl unprotected?
I wouldnt sleep with ur mother even if she’s da last dog on earth
@Philoctetes: Your a fu@#ing douch Philoctetes! I wish i could smack you in the face right now. watch your mouth…
@Philoctetes: U wouldnt sleep with a girl period u MALAKA
You guys don’t understand how we had to fight because people thought that Haitians have Aids. Study has shown that only 3% of Haitians have Aids. Sorry to burts your bubble, but we HAitians don’t go sleeping around with people. We do not have multiple partners. I guess people still don’t like to see an independent black nation. We know where we come from, we know the truth.
There is a lot of ignorant people on this. Go get a college education.
Sleeping with Haitians should be considered bestiality, much like any sexual contact with a subhuman species.
If you don’t like that statement, here’s some more reasons to let them go extinct the way nature intended: http://img517.imageshack.us/g/aidsmain.jpg/
Please, show your face (and leave your address) so I can stomp it and make it unrecognizable. You’re clearly a racist bigot, pest that needs to be exterminated… the way I intend. I’d seriously feed you your own intestines… since you like to talk shit.
Wow it’s amazing how people will use the internet as way of saying things to feel big, but do not have the guts to say to somebody’s face. 7281546309, you seem so big. GOD didn’t create you to be more special than everyone on this Earth. If GOD wanted one race, nationality, or ethnicity on this Earth, he would have made it so.
Shiva, “God” is a product of a belief system, not an actual being. If idiots would stop intervening, nature would take its course and the weakest ones would fall into extinction. Nature is “God”. Stupid humans think they can play the role of “God” while they only put off the inevitable. The desire to control others and compassion are weaknesses of the superior races.
I notice no one can dispute the facts that blacks are disease ridden criminals no matter what environment they’re placed in (too bad Egalitarians). They are disproportionately represented in every negative statistical category, whether it be by town, city, state, or country. That’s the value of truth, it cannot be refuted when it’s based on actual actions.
Your arguments are based on emotion and have zero value.
I pity you.
Hayden, your desire to inflict violence on someone else is much more disgusting than letting nature take its course. Explain why your hatred is different than anyone else’s.
If any of you have ever listened to their show or ever been to a club where Cipha is the DJ, usually the first thing out of his mouth is big up to my Jamaican, Haitians and the whole West Indian crew! Him and Rosenberg mess with every race, religion and culture. It’s not meant to harm anyone! People get over yourselves. JOKES, that’s all they are.
Cipha Sounds….. Your Gov. name is all over. Your picture is all over. He does not want to come to work.. I think it’s going to be like the riots in brooklyn. I know many goons looking to talk to him now. He will commit suicide because the GHOST WILL Haunt him. The people that were killed when America was claiming Haitians have aids. The people that killed them selves back when if you were hatian you got harrassed. RIP CIPHA. You stole someone elses name anyway.
OH and that hoe named MARIBEL…… We will get over it also when that nut from a hatian nigga gives you HIV…
Hey, Whoever writes for f u cipha sounds needs to learn how to form sentences and spell words. I mean what does koz, dt, ur, and abt mean ? Is that ebonics or what ? Please write correctly next time. Thanks
Hey wadda ya know, el Muchacho de la Raza Mexicano said it again. But even after nearly two hundred and twenty years of independence Haiti is still a pigsty. Pastor Dr. James Manning from Harlem, NYC says it even better at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpu7DF65jRU
And if you can bared it also watch these three videos:
(A) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLD0BMLxAGo
(B) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuewKMWpwAU
(C) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeNgMCRhKmE
(D) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdFnVKqtYMA
@Atlas: U’R right!! I want to sleep with you. TURN AROUND, BITCH!!
Hey aryan, Thanks for sending the you tube videos. The pastor speaks the truth. People just have to accept it and act on it.
Everybody is too sensitive. Yeah, it was a tasteless joke but at the end of the day, it was a joke. They make fun of everybody on that show. In NY, the most diverse city in the world, we all have jokes on each others races and cultures. Why? Because real people do not take those kinds of jokes personal. Cipha Sounds used to be in Nations of Gods and Earths so he’s far from racist. No disrespect to the Haitians in NY (Some of my closest friends are Haitian and they didn’t even take it personal), but lighten up. Rally against the same Government that shitted on ya’ll after the Earth Quakes, not a tasteless joke that meant no harm. Remember, Cipha was one of the people that promoted to send help to Haiti after the Earth Quake.