Matt Siegel, host of the “Matty in the Morning” show on Boston’s Kiss 108 FM, a fixture on Boston radio for 40 years, abruptly stormed off his long-running morning show on Wednesday after being told to “stop talking” about Demi Lovato’s announcement that they are non-binary, the Boston Globe reported.
The abrupt departure, which surprised listeners and sponsors, did not mark the end of “Matty in the Morning,” according to the Independent. Siegel was back on the air Thursday morning. “I ain’t leaving,” he said in a text.
“They pulled the plug on me and they said, ‘You cannot talk about what you’re talking about,’” he said on-air. “I like my boss personally; he’s been very nice to me. It’s not personal, it’s professional.”
Siegel says he has been down this censorship road before, the last time getting lambasted for bashing conservatives. “If I’m left-wing and I go anti-Trump, I get in trouble, but today I was anti-wokeness and I can’t do that,” he said.
Siegel continued: “So basically what I’m told is I can talk about light, funny things and where the Jonas Brothers are gonna be — but I can’t do what I really want to do, which is just be a funny comic who tells it like it is.… It has been a hell of a run, but I think it’s coming to an end.”
The radio host added: “I was told by my boss I cannot talk about what I want to talk about — by the way, it’s a joke, the whole binary thing. I don’t care what Demi Lovato does. But now we have to worry about ‘You might offend someone.’ Basically, I offended right-wing people and today I offended left-wing people. So basically, what they want me to do is be a lightweight show. We have that in the market. … We have radio stations that don’t offend anybody.”
Referring to “Matty in the Morning” as “the number one radio show in the history of Boston radio,” Siegel continued, “I am the biggest of all time and they said, ‘Shut up, Matt, stop talking.’ Well, I hope you’re happy, because I just stopped talking. Matty out.”
Lovato made the announcement on the latest episode of their new podcast, “4D With Demi Lovato,” that they are non-binary and identify as they/them, mediaite.com reported.
Supporters for the LGBTQ community denounced Siegel's comments.
“Public understanding of what it means to be non-binary is growing and listeners expect better from the media and people with a platform,” Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen, deputy executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, wrote in a statement to the Globe.
“When a prominent person such as Demi Lovato shares their story, it matters. It tells other non-binary folks that they are not alone. Lovato and other non-binary and trans people are worthy of respect. We are not jokes or punchlines. We’re your neighbors, your co-workers, friends and family members.”
Mary Emily O’Hara, GLAAD news and rapid response manager, said in an email: “Respecting someone’s authentic identity, including using their pronouns and names, is not only a basic human courtesy, but it can be lifesaving, especially for transgender and nonbinary youth. Media personalities have a responsibility to be accurate as they never know who is listening to them, whether a vulnerable young person, or a person looking for an excuse to exclude, marginalize or make anyone feel unsafe,” the Globe reported.
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