Les Jones

News > Air America

So Air America is off the air in LA and Chicago in a financial dispute with station owner Arthur Liu, who was selling them airtime. Liu says they bounced checks. Air America says they stopped payment. Jury's out on who's in the wrong.

Here's the thing. Even if they're in the right, this letter on the Air America is over the top. (LATER: AirAmerica has now been shamed into taking down the letter. If anyone knows of a copy somewhere, let me know.)

But Arthur Liu --- not funny. He lied to us, he ripped us off and now we’re chasing him down with a pipe wrench. It’s a metaphor.

Here’s what really happened:

This Liu-ser was ripping off our boss Evan Cohen big time (he can’t do that, that’s our job). Evan found out about it and he stopped payment on a check to keep Liu-cifer from ripping him off even more. You can touch Evan for the occasional meal or drinks but a million bucks is crossing the line. And if we ever get low on cash, we can always call Barbra Streisand. Or any of the Baldwins. Except Stephen.

So cool your jets. Air America Radio isn’t dead, we’re in court and we’re going to slam Liu’s head in a car door. Another metaphor. We hope to be back on the air tomorrow or the next day in those markets.

Even assuming everything they say is 100% true, they're not exactly covering themselves with glory in the way they're dealing with this. If you owned a radio station would you want to work with these guys?

PS What's up with liberals being peaceniks against foreign powers and talking like gangsters when it comes to their domestic opponents?

LATER: Neal "no permalinks" Boortz says almost the same thing today.