Boortz: Non-English-speaking Latinos are "the ones with sombreros" and "bandoliers full of bullets across their chest"

On the August 10 broadcast of Cox Radio Syndication's The Neal Boortz Show, producer Belinda Skelton told host Neal Boortz about a bilingual Parent-Teacher Association meeting she had attended, remarking that she had been unable to tell how many of the families in attendance spoke English. Boortz responded: "[Y]ou can look at the parents and tell, because the ones with sombreros can't speak English. ... The ones with the bandoliers full of bullets across their chest."

As Media Matters for America has noted, Boortz regularly ridicules Latinos on his show. For example, on June 11, while discussing illegal immigration, a caller asked, "Why can't we just load them on planes and keep on loading them until they're back?" Boortz responded, "We're not gonna throw these people out of airplanes with taco-shaped parachutes." On June 18, Boortz commented, "I don't care if Mexicans pile up against that fence like tumbleweeds in the Santa Ana winds in Southern California. Let 'em. You know, then just run a couple of taco trucks up and down the line, and somebody's gonna be a millionaire out of that."

During the show's June 21 broadcast, Boortz offered a suggestion he said he got from a listener's email: "When we defeat this illegal alien amnesty bill, and when we yank out the welcome mat, and they all start going back to Mexico, as a going away gift let's all give them a box of nuclear waste." Boortz continued: "Give 'em all a little nuclear waste and let 'em take it on down there to Mexico. Tell 'em it can -- it'll heat tortillas."

The Georgia Association of Broadcasters awarded Boortz and his radio show the honors of "Best Radio On-Air Personality" and "Best Radio Program, Any Type" in 2007. Boortz is a nominee for the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame 2007 Career Achievement Award. Boortz's flagship station is WSB in Atlanta.

From the August 10 broadcast of Cox Radio Syndication's The Neal Boortz Show:

ROYAL MARSHALL (engineer and "sidekick"): Well, the question is this, Belinda: How many children did they have there that could not speak English?

SKELTON: See, I don't know because I didn't talk to the children. It may be more for the parents --

BOORTZ: Why don't you ask?

SKELTON: -- not the children, because I'm sure the children --

BOORTZ: Oh, oh yeah. Oh yeah.

MARSHALL: I mean, you can look at the parents and tell the ones that are --

SKELTON: Well, you know we had a few --

MARSHALL: How many of 'em?

SKELTON: -- Hispanic families.

BOORTZ: The ones with sombreros.

SKELTON: What'd you say?

BOORTZ: I said you can look at the parents and tell, because the ones with sombreros can't speak English.

SKELTON: Oh Lord, have mercy.

BOORTZ: The ones with the bandoliers full of bullets across their chest.

SKELTON: I just hope the people at this school do not listen to your show.

BOORTZ: I'm -- Belinda!

MARSHALL: It's in English!

BOORTZ: It's in English! Oh, this is terrible. Belinda, I feel so bad for your kid.

—A.J.W.