| Michael Savage | |
|---|---|
| Born | Michael Alan Weiner March 31, 1942 The Bronx, New York, U.S. |
| Residence | San Francisco, California, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | B.A., Biology (Queens College) M.A., Anthropology and M.S., Ethnobotany (University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa) Ph.D., Nutritional Ethnomedicine (University of California, Berkeley) |
| Occupation | Radio talk show host Commentator Author |
| Spouse | Carol Ely (1964–1967, divorced) Janet Weiner (1967–present) |
| Children | Russell Weiner (born 1970) Rebecca Lin Yops (born 1977) |
| Website | |
| www.michaelsavage.wnd.com | |
| Notes | |
Michael Savage (born Michael Alan Weiner; March 31, 1942) is a conservative American radio host, author, and political commentator. He is the host of The Savage Nation, a nationally syndicated talk show that airs throughout the United States on Talk Radio Network. The Savage Nation has an audience of 8 to 10 million listeners on 400 stations across the United States, making it the third most listened-to radio talk show in the country.[2][3] He holds master's degrees from the University of Hawaii in medical botany and medical anthropology and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, in nutritional ethnomedicine. As Michael Weiner, he has written books on herbal medicine and homeopathy. As Michael Savage, he has written four New York Times-bestselling political books.[4][5][6][7]
Savage has summarized his political philosophy in three words: borders, language, and culture. Some, including Savage himself, have characterized his views as conservative nationalism,[8] while critics have characterized them as "fostering extremism or hatred."[9] He outspokenly opposes illegal immigration to the United States, supports the English-only movement and argues that liberalism and progressivism are degrading American culture. Although his radio delivery is usually characterized as confrontational and politically themed, some of his show involves ruminating on topics such as medicine, nutrition, music, literature, history, theology, philosophy, sports, culture, and personal anecdotes.
Since 2009, Savage has been barred from entering the United Kingdom, for allegedly "seeking to provoke others to serious criminal acts and fostering hatred".[9][10][11][12]
Contents |
Savage was born Michael Alan Weiner in the Bronx, New York, one of three children of Benjamin and Rae Weiner; he comes from Russian Jewish heritage.[13][1][14][15] He described his childhood as difficult.[1] His father, the owner of an antique shop, died of a heart attack at age 57,[13] and his mother died in 2003.[15]
After graduating from Jamaica High School in 1958,[16][17] Weiner attended Queens College, where he earned a bachelor's degree in biology in 1963.[13] After college Weiner taught high school for several years in New York City. His first marriage to Carol Ely in 1964 ended in divorce, and he remarried after meeting his current wife Janet in 1967. His first wife says that she became pregnant twice and aborted both pregnancies over Weiner's objections.[1] During this time Weiner also worked for famous psychedelic drug advocate Timothy Leary as keeper of the stone gatehouse on Leary's Millbrook estate. Leary hired him to the post because Weiner did not use LSD himself.[1] Weiner then earned two master's degrees in ethnobotany and anthropology from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He obtained a Ph.D. in 1978 from the University of California, Berkeley, in nutritional ethnomedicine.[18] His thesis was titled Nutritional Ethnomedicine in Fiji.[19]
While in the South Pacific, he became fascinated with the 19th-century sailor Charles Savage, who was believed to have been the first man to bring firearms to Fiji.[20] That fascination led to Weiner's name change to Savage.
Savage and his second wife Janet have two children, a daughter and a son; his son, Russell Weiner, is the founder of the company that produces the Rockstar energy drink.[21] Russell's mother, Janet, served as CFO of his company until July 2009.[1] Daughter Rebecca Lin Yops has worked as an elementary school teacher.[22] Savage has said that although he believes in God, he attends houses of worship only a few times a year.[23] During the 1980s, Savage attended Friday night services at a Chabad house in Berkeley.[13]
Savage introduced himself to certain writers in the North Beach area of San Francisco in the early 1960s.[22] He befriended and traveled with Beat poets Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Savage maintained a correspondence with Ginsberg consisting of ten letters and a trio of postcards across four years, which is maintained with Ginsberg's papers at Stanford University.[1][24] One letter asked for Ginsberg and Ferlinghetti to come do a poetry reading, so others could "hear and see and know why I adore your public image."[14] Another acquaintance was poet and author Neeli Cherkovski, who says Savage dreamed of becoming a stand-up comic in the mold of Lenny Bruce.[1]
Around 1980, an acquaintance, Robert Cathcart, says in his private conversations with Savage he knew him to have conservative political views.[22] Schwartz stated Savage became alienated from the North Beach scene in the early 1980s. Savage had intense arguments with his liberal friends.[22] When asked about his shift in politics and other views, Savage replied, "I was once a child; I am now a man."[14] Savage has cited many occurrences in his life that helped shape his conservative views. Savage states that his opinions on welfare were partly shaped by his first job out of college as a social worker.[25] He described one incident in which his supervisor had him deliver a check to a welfare client to furnish their apartment, while his own apartment was furnished with cardboard boxes.[26] Another turning point occurred for him as a writer of health and nutrition books in the 1980s, when he experienced what he saw as "political opposition" after making the suggestion that the closure of homosexual bathhouses might be necessary in response to the emerging AIDS epidemic.[27] In 1994 his final health and nutrition manuscript, Immigrants and Epidemics, was rejected by publishers for being inflammatory.[28] In 1996, Savage applied to become the Dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley. The University instead selected award-winning journalist and China scholar Orville Schell. Savage sued the University, contending discrimination for being conservative.[22] Savage later dropped the lawsuit.[29]
The rejection of his 1994 manuscript prompted him to record a demo tape with a mock radio talk show about illegal immigrants and epidemics. He mailed this tape to 250 radio stations in an attempt to change careers and become a radio talk show host.[22][30] On March 21, 1994, Savage began his radio career on KGO (a San Francisco news/talk radio station) as a fill-in host for the liberal Ray Taliaferro. Less than a year later, he began hosting his own show on KGO's sister station KSFO.[13][1]
At the time, his slogan was "To the right of Rush and to the left of God." On January 1, 1995, he was given his own show during the drive-time hours. The show quickly became a local hit. During his time at KSFO, Savage reached #1 in Arbitron ratings among both adult men and women over 18 during afternoon drive-time in San Francisco and became top talk host in his timeslot in Northern California.[31] In 1999, he came to the attention of the Talk Radio Network, based in Oregon, which currently syndicates his The Savage Nation radio program.
As of the fall of 2006, Savage has 8–10 million listeners per week,[32] making his show the third most widely heard broadcast in the United States. Savage calls his listeners "literate callers with intelligence, wit, and energy." He says that he tries to make a show that has a "...hard edge combined with humor and education...Those who listen to me say they hear a bit of Plato, Henry Miller, Jack Kerouac, Moses, Jesus, and Frankenstein."[31] Mark de la Viña of the San Jose Mercury News wrote of Savage, "In contrast to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Laura Schlessinger, Bay Area-based Savage mixes conservative diatribe and blunt observations with acerbic humor and a gift of gab. It has propelled him to the top of radio talk-show ratings as well as bestseller book lists."[14]
On September 10, 2009, KNEW-AM (910 kHz) in Savage's home market of San Francisco announced that it was dropping his program and replacing him with John and Ken from sister station KFI-AM (640 kHz)/Los Angeles.[33] John Scott, program director of KNEW said in an e-mail that the station was headed "...in a different philosophical and ideological direction, featuring more contemporary content and more local information."[34] According to Arbitron monthly ratings, KNEW-AM dropped in the ratings since Savage was let go. San Francisco station KTRB picked up the program for the San Francisco market, and saw a ratings boost in the afternoon drive. However, the program was among the first casualties when KTRB went into receivership in September 2010.[35]
Savage had asked his audience for their opinion prior to consenting to a profile interview by Kelefa Sanneh of The New Yorker; Savage eventually accepted that offer and the New Yorker profile, titled "Party of One", was published in the August 3, 2009 issue, which covered Savage's life and personality in great detail.[13][36]
On January 22, 2010, Savage revealed to his audience that a writer for Playboy had contacted him via email to do a lengthy interview, and again asked his listeners if he should accept the offer. During the show, Savage read from personal emails between the Playboy writer and himself. The writer admitted to being a listener of the Savage Nation but a critic of the profile done by The New Yorker. The writer also stated that the purpose of the interview was to "rattle" Playboy's readers. On May 12, 2010, Savage revealed that he had granted the interview at his home. Playboy published the interview in June 2010.[26] He read from a pre-publication copy of the 8,000 word Playboy interview, in which the writer expressed animosity for Savage and his views. Savage said that he was disappointed at the lack of journalistic objectivity, but did not harbor hatred for the writer. He referred back to the New Yorker interview by Kelefa Sanneh, and praised Sanneh as a "real writer" who had understood his subject.
On October 1, 2011, Michael Savage was ranked as the #2 for online streams according to the internet rankings report published by TalkStreamLive.com [37]
Savage was hired by MSNBC president Erik Sorenson to do a one-hour show beginning March 8, 2003, despite Savage's previous criticism of the network in his book The Savage Nation and the objections of NBC employees like anchor Tom Brokaw, who asked NBC executives, "Is this the sort of man who embodies the values of NBC?"[24] Sorenson, at the time, called Savage "brash, passionate and smart," and promised that he would provide "compelling opinion and analysis with an edge."[38]
From the very beginning of his stint at MSNBC, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) urged the show's sponsors to stop advertising on the show. Savage did not sue GLAAD, but Talk Radio Network Inc. (TRN), which syndicated his radio show, did sue the owners of three small noncommercial websites that had criticized Savage and endorsed the call for advertisers to withdraw their support for the show. The suit alleged that the defendants had caused Savage financial damage by interfering with his relationship with advertisers, had used material from The Michael Savage Show without permission, and had spread "false and malicious" information about Savage.[39] The suit was brought in Illinois, the location of Culligan, a company that stopped advertising with TRN.[40] Public Citizen undertook the legal defense of the owners of savagestupidity.com.[41] Savage also contended before the National Arbitration Forum that the "savagestupidity.com" and "michaelsavagesucks.com" domain names were "confusingly similar" to his own "michaelsavage.com", and that he should be given those domain names.[42] Several months after filing the lawsuit, TRN withdrew it without obtaining any concessions from the defendants.[43] The National Arbitration Forum ruled against Savage's claim.[44]
Four months later, on July 7, Savage was fired from his MSNBC television show after remarks made in response to a caller, later identified as prank caller Bob Foster, who insulted Savage's teeth. Savage then asked if Foster was a "sodomite", to which the caller answered, "Yes, I am." Savage then said to the caller,
Oh, so you're one of those sodomites. You should only get AIDS and die, you pig; how's that? Why don't you see if you can sue me, you pig? You got nothing better to do than to put me down, you piece of garbage? You got nothing to do today? Go eat a sausage, and choke on it. Get trichinosis. Now do we have another nice caller here who's busy because he didn't have a nice night in the bathhouse who's angry at me today? Put another, put another sodomite on....no more calls?...I don't care about these bums; they mean nothing to me. They're all sausages.[45][46]
The day after being fired, Savage apologized on his radio program and on his website. He explained that he believed that MSNBC had gone to commercial to cover the gaffe of the attempted sabotage by a prank caller and that he was off the air at the time of the offensive comments, despite the fact that clips of the segment show Savage going to commercial after he made the comments. He also said his remarks were meant only to insult the caller, not all people with AIDS.[47]
Michael Savage calls himself an "independent-minded individualist" and says that he "fits no stereotype."[31] He has also cited Barry Goldwater as an influence.[48] Savage criticizes big government as well as liberalism and liberal activism, accuses the news media of liberal bias, and champions conservationism and animal rights.[8] He considers the three aspects that define a nation as borders, language, and culture; those aspects inspired the motto of the Paul Revere Society.[49]
In 2003, Savage said that he voted in 2000 for George W. Bush "quite reluctantly, incidentally."[50] In 2004, Savage and the Revere Society hosted a party at Schroeder's Cafe in San Francisco celebrating the re-election of Bush.[49] Savage donated $5,600 to the campaign of Democratic candidate Jerry Brown in the 2006 California Attorney General election.[51]
Regarding candidates for the 2012 Republican primaries, Savage said that Ron Paul had "great ideas" but expressed that Rick Perry should be the nominee.[52]
On December 12, 2011, he offered Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich "1 million dollars" to withdraw from the Presidential contest, saying that only Mitt Romney had a chance to beat "Barack Obama", a man he regards as a Communist and a possible foreign usurper[53], in the 2012 election[54].
Savage has regularly donated money toward the legal defense of the Marines accused of murdering civilians in Haditha, Iraq; occasionally, Savage will offer proceeds from any sales through his website. Savage had regular contact with the attorneys of the accused and criticizes their treatment at Camp Pendleton.[55] Most recently, Savage has donated over $10,000 to the U.S. Marines Charity Defense Fund at the Thomas More Law Center[56] On April 25, 2007, he pledged $1 for each copy of Healing Children Naturally and Reducing the Risk of Alzheimer's purchased from his website to be donated to the U.S. Marines Defense Fund.[57] The Marines were ultimately found not guilty.
On his nationally syndicated talk radio program, Michael Savage announced that he had sent another $50,000 to aid in the defense of First Lieutenant Michael Behenna, who has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for allegedly murdering terrorist suspect Ali Mansur Mohammed while serving in Iraq with the 101st Airborne Division in 2008. Savage has previously given $50,000 to Behenna’s defense from the Savage Legal Defense Fund and his own personal contributions. According to Vicki Behenna, the lieutenant’s mother, additional contributions from listeners since Savage brought up this topic on his program have amounted to over $40,000. This brings the total contributions from Savage and his listeners to nearly $150,000.[58]
On June 9, 2007, Talkers Magazine awarded Savage with the publication's annual "Freedom of Speech Award," and he accepted it with a pre-recorded speech.[59]
In July 2005, conservative writer Bernard Goldberg ranked Savage number 61 in his book 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America. Goldberg wrote that "Savage's brand of over-the-top bile... puts him right in there with the angriest haters on the Left."[60] David Klinghoffer, a National Review columnist, speculated that The Savage Nation "is an act, a put-on."[48]
Liberal advocacy groups and media watchdogs such as GLAAD and FAIR accuse Savage of racism,[38] homophobia,[61] bigotry[38] and Islamophobia[62] because of his controversial statements about homosexuality, Islam, feminism, sex education, and immigration.[63] On his September 21, 1999 broadcast, Savage said that the motivation for female students who come from a Marin County private school to feed and provide services to the homeless is so they "can go in and get raped by them, because they seem to like the excitement of it..."[64][65]
On April 17, 2006, he said of Muslims, "They say, 'Oh, there's a billion of them.' I said, 'So, kill 100 million of them, then there'll be 900 million of them.' I mean, would you rather die—would you rather us die than them?"[66] This was taken from an argument dealing with the possibility of a nuclear conflict in that region. After Savage was banned from the UK, this was also reported in the UK media.[67]
In March 2006, Savage drew the ire of some in the Roman Catholic community when he accused the Roman Catholic Church of breaking federal law by giving assistance to illegal immigrants (in response to statements by Roger Cardinal Mahony of Los Angeles calling it "pastoral support").[68] William A. Donohue, the president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, was scheduled to be on the show that day, but refused after hearing Savage's language. He later said, "what is not fine is Savage's diatribe about the 'greedy pigs' in the Catholic Church and how 'the institution is rotten from the top to the bottom.' He owes all Catholics an apology."[69]
On March 28, 2006, Savage encouraged his listeners to burn Mexican flags to counter massive rallies held in California during which demonstrators marched in opposition to proposed legislation that would impose new immigration restrictions.[70]
When Talkers Magazine awarded Savage with the publication's annual "Freedom of Speech Award," C-SPAN opted not to broadcast a pre-recorded speech that had been sent by Michael Savage.[59] Although the award ceremony had received coverage in previous years, C-SPAN did not televise it due to its policy of televising such speeches only when delivered in person. Savage stated that C-SPAN's decision was "censorship" and he told his listeners to express their ire to C-SPAN through calls and e-mails to the organization.[71]
In early November 2007, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) called on radio listeners to contact companies that advertise on Savage's program to express their concerns about his comments concerning Muslims. Savage was quoted as saying Muslims "need deportation", and that adherents of Islam would do well to "take your religion and shove it up your behind" because "I'm sick of you."[72] On his show and website, Savage answered by reminding his listeners that CAIR is linked to terrorist organization Hamas, and as such has been called an "unindicted co-conspirator" by government officials in an anti-terrorist trial" (the Holy Land Foundation trial). On November 8, 2007, following a campaign by CAIR meant to get Savage off the air by going after his sponsors, Citrix Systems, Inc. pulled its advertisements from his show.[73]
Savage sued CAIR for its use, on its website, of excerpts from his show, for copyright infringement by CAIR.[74] The suit alleged that CAIR's repackaging of Savage's comments was "deliberately designed to obscure the specific message conveyed by Michael Savage". The excerpts included Savage's characterization of the Qur'an as "a throwback document" and a "book of hate". CAIR called the suit "bizarre, sloppy and baseless".[75] On July 25, 2008, the United States district court dismissed Savage's suit against CAIR, holding that the posting of the audio clip was protected under the First Amendment doctrine of fair use, as it was used to "comment on and rebut derogatory statements regarding their organization and their religious affiliations."[76] The court gave Savage the opportunity to file an amended complaint if he wanted to try to cure the defects in his suit. On August 14, 2008, however, Savage's lawyer announced that Savage would not file an amended complaint and would drop the case.[77][78] CAIR then sought attorneys fees against Savage but U.S. District Court judge Susan Illston denied that request.[79]
In July 2008, Savage claimed that the increasing rate of autism diagnoses was the result of "a racket" designed to get disability payments for "poorer families who have found a new way to be parasites on the government."[80] He returned to the subject on his July 16, 2008 show with the following remarks:
Now, the illness du jour is autism. You know what autism is? I'll tell you what autism is. In 99 percent of the cases, it's a brat who hasn't been told to cut the act out. That's what autism is. What do you mean they scream and they're silent? They don't have a father around to tell them, "Don't act like a moron. You'll get nowhere in life. Stop acting like a putz. Straighten up. Act like a man. Don't sit there crying and screaming, idiot."[81][82]
On July 21, 2008, following a public information campaign led by the liberal advocacy group Media Matters for America, several dozen parents and grandparents of autistic children picketed outside the studios of WOR in New York, calling for Savage to be fired and for commercial sponsors to withdraw their advertising from his program.[83] In response, WOR issued a statement saying, "We regret any consternation that his remarks may have caused to our listeners."[80] Also that day, the insurance company Aflac pulled its advertising,[84] and the Supertalk Mississippi radio network dropped Savage's program, replacing it with The Dennis Miller Show.[85] Later that evening, Savage devoted his entire three-hour program to the subject, taking calls from parents who took issue with his comments. On that show Savage stated that his remarks had been "ripped out of context" by "far left Stalinists" who want him off of the air. He appeared on Larry King Live with Glenn Beck as the substitute host for Larry King, and said that the real issue he was commenting on was the overdiagnosis of children due to pharmaceutical companies' drive to drug children for higher profits.[80][83] On July 25, 2008, Autism United advocates gathered to announce that several advertisers, including RadioShack, Sears, Home Depot, and DirectBuy, will discontinue their support for Savage's show.[86]
Savage's syndicator, Talk Radio Network, has responded by releasing a lengthy statement, along with a selection of 20 audio clips drawn from Savage's discussions of autism, to show that the comments were taken out of context.[87]
On May 5, 2009, it was announced by then-Home Secretary Jacqui Smith that Savage was on a list of individuals banned from entering the United Kingdom as he is "considered to be engaging in unacceptable behaviour by seeking to provoke others to serious criminal acts and fostering hatred which might lead to inter-community violence".[88][89][90] The list also includes Erich Gliebe, Fred Phelps, Mike Guzovsky and Abdul Alim Musa.[91] During his radio broadcast on that same day, Savage declared that he would sue Smith personally for defamation, calling her a "lunatic".[92]
During a subsequent NPR talk show, Savage said that he has never advocated violence and repeatedly invoked the United States Constitution's First Amendment. After host Neal Conan pointed out that the U.S. Constitution does not apply to the United Kingdom, Savage replied, "No. Thank God I'm an American. But for this lunatic... to link me up with Nazi skinheads who are killing people in Russia... to put me in league with Hamas murderers who killed Jews on buses, is astonishing".[93] Savage also called on his listeners to support him by canceling travel and business in Britain as well as by boycotting British-made goods, commenting, "If they want to play hardball, we'll play hardball."[94] When a caller challenged Savage about his talk show rhetoric, Savage called him a "foaming lunatic... someone in pajamas in a mental asylum... You’re nobody and I’m not going to talk to you!" At that point, Savage ended the interview.[93] One commentator later said "It's quite ironic that someone like Michael Savage sees no hypocrisy in strongly defending his right to the First Amendment only to show outrage and intolerance a few minutes later toward the views of someone else he doesn't agree with."[95]
Of the banning, the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, wrote: "America still has a constitutional protection of free speech, and I have been amazed... to see how few people in this country are willing to stick up for that elementary principle... a country once famous for free speech is now hysterically and expensively sensitive to anything that could be taken as a slight."[96] In The Guardian, Catherine Bennett wrote: "The ban on Savage is so far from being a comprehensible act, so staggeringly capricious and stupid, as to defy evaluation."[97] While Sam Leith wrote: "Barring this shock-jock from Britain risks turning a rabid blabbermouth into a beacon for free speech."[67]
On July 12, 2010 the new Coalition government, of which the Conservative Party's David Cameron is Prime Minister, announced that it will continue to ban Savage from entering the UK.[98][99]
In total Savage has written 29 books. Under the name Michael Savage he has written eight books, including a #1 New York Times bestseller and three further books which made the best seller list.[5][6][7] He has also reprinted two books with the name Savage, Reducing the Risk of Alzheimer's and Healing Children Naturally.[100]
His 1980 book Weiners's Herbal: The Guide to Herb Medicine advocated the medical benefits of marijuana.[14]
Savage's recent books are political in nature and published by WND Books, a partnership between the conservative website WorldNetDaily and Thomas Nelson, a publisher of Christian books.
In 1991, Savage self-published The Death of the White Male, an argument against affirmative action.[101] In the book, Savage, calls affirmative action "reverse discrimination", and demonstrates his emerging philosophy. This eventually led to his starting the Paul Revere Society and he continues to sell the book to raise money for this group.[102]
In January 2003, Savage published The Savage Nation: Saving America from the Liberal Assault on Our Borders, Language and Culture, his first major book under the pseudonym Michael Savage. The book quickly reached the top of the New York Times Best Seller list, earning Savage, as noted above, a commentary show on MSNBC. The book directs attacks at "liberal media bias," the "dominating culture of 'she-ocracy'", gay activists, and liberals.
In January 2004, Savage published his second political book The Enemy Within: Saving America from the Liberal Assault on Our Schools, Faith, and Military. His next book, Liberalism Is a Mental Disorder, was released on April 12, 2005. Unlike The Savage Nation, both of these books cited sources for some of the more controversial claims made.
In April 2006, Savage released The Political Zoo. The book contains satirical profiles and cartoons of different public figures, most of whom are liberal political figures and celebrities, who are depicted in caricature as animals in the "Political Zoo", with Savage himself portrayed as the zoo keeper. Savage has remarked that the book is "easier to digest" than his previous political books.[103]
In October 2010, Savage released Trickle Up Poverty: Stopping Obama’s Attack on Our Borders, Economy, and Security. Released through the HarperCollins imprint of William Morrow, the book argued: "Americans are boiling mad over the way Congress and this Marxist/Leninist-oriented President are manipulating the current economic crisis to nationalize businesses."[104]
In November 2010, it was confirmed that Savage had signed a deal to write two thrillers for publisher St. Martin's Press. The first political thriller, "Abuse of Power," was released on 13 September 2011. The novel is based on "My fictionalized account of being banned from Britain and hunted by overbearing governments is set in the San Francisco only I know," said Savage. It is set in San Francisco, mainly in North Beach, as well as London, and Tel Aviv. It tells the story of a failed carjacking that reveals a government cover-up. A dark plot involving British officials and a terrorist group known as "the Hand of Allah." The publisher has described the novel by saying, "will make 9/11 look like child's play." [105]