The Demise of Dean Blundell

by Gary Seward
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The Demise of Dean Blundell - Fresh Print Magazine

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Toronto rang in the New Year by losing another staple to the city with 102.1 The Edge cancelling The Dean Blundell Show after 13 years on the air. Dean Blundell has been entertaining hundreds of people every morning on their daily commutes. It’s a loss that has disappointed many fans, but one that came a little late for the people who were continuously offended by the “shock jock’s” immature shenanigans.

An official statement was made by the general manager of Corus Radio Toronto, Dave Farough, “With the start of the New Year, Corus Radio will be taking 102.1 The Edge in a new direction in 2014. The station will return to a more music-based format showcasing the best in modern rock.”

Of course anyone who reads a newspaper or is online at all knows this is not entirely accurate. The show was canned because of the homophobic banter between host, Dean Blundell, and his producer, Derek Welsman. Which was further compounded onto a long list of offenses by the shock jock and his morning crew, particularly the already fired “The” Todd Shapiro, who was fired for advocating violence on a protester.

This past September was the trial of Joshua Dowholis, who was formally charged with four counts of aggravated sexual assault and two counts of forcible confinement. The alleged offenses took place after meeting the victims at the highly popular gay bathhouse, Spa Excess where he allegedly lured the victims to his apartment without disclosing he was HIV+. Dowholis has since been sentenced to six years in prison.

This wasn’t a trial about gay sex; it was a trial about a man who knowingly lured men without disclosing he was HIV+. It’s a serious offense that needed to be taken serious. However, this wasn’t the case for Derek Welsman or the host himself, Dean Blundell.

At the start of the trial, the 102.1 producer sat in the jury with the duty of objectively examining the evidence of the case in order to prosecute the defendant or find out if he was indeed not guilty. Which involved Mr. Welsman to state, under oath, that he has no bias toward homosexuals. What follows is not only harmful to the LGBTQ community or the Canadian Justice System but is just down right childish and offensive.

On the September 30 broadcast of The Dean Blundell Show, Welsman took to the air and made fun of the circumstances of the case in remarks that even suggested the perpetrator might have reason to look forward to prison showers, which is a dangerous perpetuation of gay stereotypes. Here’s a clip of some of the comments:

 

(Source; the star.com)

While no stranger to controversy, The Dean Blundell Show has been getting a free ticket from its viewers for years that claim that it falls under free speech. I am an advocate of free speech, but free speech does not mean defaming a community of people and reducing them to stereotypes and perversion. Not only that, but Mr. Welsman may have actually committed a crime himself by disclosing details of a pending trial.

I’m not sure The Dean Blundell Show will be as missed as the other dismantled staples of Toronto, like Mirvish Village, World’s Biggest Bookstore, Sam The Record Man, and the Toronto Transit Commission. In this case, I think a large majority of Toronto and Canadian listeners are rejoicing at having another bigot removed from a position of prominence.

There are a lot of people, including myself, who are downright sick and tired of the LGBTQ community being the punch line of jokes, being reduced to archaic stereotypes and I am certainly sick of the relentless gay bashing from people with microphones and audio equipment. This isn’t a case about free speech; this is a case about sensitivity.

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