OCT 19 1999

Disney Reverses Approach to ‘Black Hoe’ Controversy
LOS ANGELES TIMES -- LOS ANGELES

After initially dismissing its involvement in a radio promotion called “The Black Hoe,” the Walt Disney Co. is now moving aggressively to rein in the mounting controversy.

Six weeks ago, Disney balked at demands from civil rights groups to issue an apology for airing a promotion on a local FM radio station during which “Black Hoes” -- black, plastic gardening tools -- were distributed to listeners and advertisers last year. Disney also vowed to fight a pair of racial discrimination and harassment lawsuits filed against its ABC Inc. division by two black employees of the station, KLOS-FM.

But when black groups asked the Federal Communications Commission to revoke the station’s license and threatened to launch a national boycott, Disney quickly apologized. And after an internal review uncovered 11 years of complaints about barbs against Jews, Asians and blacks aired on the station’s morning show, the corporation began scrambling to quietly settle the lawsuits out of court, sources said.

Disney also dispatched ABC Chairman Robert Iger, one of the Disney’s top executives, three weeks ago to the Los Angeles headquarters of the Congress of Racial Equality, where he spent nearly two hours consulting with civil rights leaders on how to resolve their concerns. On Monday, the two top executives from ABC’s human resources department flew in from New York to CORE headquarters to consult with civil rights leaders on how to improve the company’s diversity and sensitivity training programs.