Rep. Gaetz Calls For Taxpayer-Funded NPR To Explain Affiliate Airing Louis Farrakhan’s Speeches
Republican Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz sent a letter Wednesday to Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) President and CEO Patricia de Stacy Harrison and National Public Radio (NPR) President and CEO John Lansing. The letter asks about the use of taxpayer funds to play Nation of Islam (NOI) leader Louis Farrakhan’s speeches during a weekly show on an affiliate station.
The Daily Caller first obtained a copy of the letter to the CEOs in regards to Final Call Radio, which airs every Sunday night on NPR affiliate WEAA 88.9. The letter says the station labels itself as “The Official Voice of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan” and plays his speeches that include antisemitic comments.
WEAA received over $250,000 in funding in 2021 from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CBP), which is entirely funded by Congress.
The radio station airs in the Washington D.C.-Baltimore area.
Farrakhan has a history of “railing against Jews, white people and the LGBT community,” according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).
“Americans would be shocked to learn that black supremacy, ethnic extremism, or historical revisionism of any kind, especially of this magnitude, is being funded by their tax dollars. Sadly, if they accessed WEAA 88.9’s website, they would see that the station received $251,815 in taxpayer funds through the congressionally authorized Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) in 2021,” Gaetz wrote in the letter.
Gaetz asks in the letter:
- How much taxpayer money has WEAA 88.9 been allocated by CPB in 2022 and 2023?
- What vetting processes do CPB and NPR use to ensure taxpayer funds are not being allocated to organizations that platform extremist content?
- What vetting processes do CPB and NPR use to ensure taxpayer funds are not being allocated to organizations that platform pseudohistorical and historically revisionist content?
- What other hate groups do CPB and/or NPR fund with taxpayer dollars?
READ THE LETTER HERE:
“Farrakhan has embarked on a wide-ranging campaign specifically targeting the Jewish community, a campaign that has featured some of the most hateful speeches of his tenure as head of NOI,” the ADL’s website reads. “Farrakhan has alleged that the Jewish people were responsible for the slave trade and that they conspire to control the government, the media and Hollywood, as well as various black individuals and organizations. He frequently denies the legitimacy of Judaism – or Jewish claim to the land of Israel — arguing that Judaism is nothing more than a ‘deceptive lie’ and a ‘theological error’ promoted by Jews to further their ‘control’ over America’s government and economy.”
The radio station is owned by Morgan State University, a public university that received $46 million in federal grants and contracts in 2022.
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