Catholic League president Bill Donohue explained the Catholic League’s strategy for dealing with the ABC-TV affiliate in Seattle, KOMO:
“A week ago today, I wrote a news release regarding an anti-Catholic remark that had been made the day before by KOMO-TV commentator, Ken Schram. In his comments on a piece of public art that was to be displayed in Seattle depicting a naked man and a naked boy, Schram said, ‘The sculpture might as well as be called the priest and the altar boy.’ I wrote another release on October 3 criticizing Schram for demanding that Bill Bennett be fired for making a hypothetical comment that some interpreted as being racist. Apparently, Schram felt his own libelous statement on priests was entirely justified.
“After bringing this matter to the attention of ABC officials in Burbank on October 4, we were instructed to speak to Schram’s boss, Dick Warsinske. I explained our complaint to him on October 5 and his October 6 response reached me today. He defended Schram’s bigotry by saying that ‘the issue of pedophile priests is well known.’ His only concession was to remove the offensive statement from their website.
“I have now written to the executive committee of Fisher Communications, Inc., the Seattle owner of KOMO-TV. We want an apology, and nothing less. In my letter, I said that Schram’s comment indicting all Catholic priests for the misbehavior of some in their ranks was nothing less than rank bigotry. ‘Every institution and demographic group has its share of dirty laundry,’ I said, ‘but nothing justifies collective guilt.’ We Catholics demand nothing less than the identical treatment afforded those who publicly denigrate other segments of our society. To do anything less is to condone anti-Catholicism.
“We expect to get a more professional response from Fisher Communications than we have received from KOMO-TV.”
