Hot 97 DJ Cipha Sounds suspended over Haiti slur

(CARIBBEAT - Jared McCallister)
As the dust settled last week on the latest episode of the Hot 97 DJ Cipha Sounds debacle, at least three points were made clear - New York's Haitian community is organized, it has clout and it WILL be taken seriously.

Cipha Sounds, whose real name is Luiz Diaz, incensed Haitian New Yorkers and their supporters by saying that he's remained HIV-negative because he does not "mess with Haitian girls."

As soon as the half-witted comment left his lips, the station was flooded with phone calls and the social networks Twitter and Facebook were abuzz.

The deejay apologized for what he called a "tasteless joke" but his pleas have fallen on deaf ears.

(A video of his apology can be seen on Rockmasters, a popular Haitian entertainment website at www.rockmasters.com/page2.html.)

Last week, calls for Cipha Sounds' firing could still be heard.

Haitian community leaders and supporters gathered outside the radio station's Manhattan headquarters last Monday to express outrage over the insensitive remark.

Station officials finally took decisive action by suspending Cipha Sounds indefinitely and declaring he "will immediately undertake sensitivity training focused on the Haitian community and specifically, the challenges the Haitian community has faced in terms of the HIV epidemic."

The officials also vowed to "work with local community leaders to utilize the influence of Hot 97 to increase awareness of HIV and community programs to address the HIV epidemic."

"The Haitian community is an important part of our listenership whom we respect and value," said Alex Cameron, senior vice president and market manager for Emmis-New York which runs Hot 97.

"The suspension is an indication of the importance we place on delivering a product that respects our Haitian audience," he said, putting a bright spotlight on the economic and political power a unified Haitian community has in New York City.