Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : AIDS Group Files Complaint Against Radio Host : Lancaster: Catalyst Foundation alleges Herb Nero’s on-air remarks ‘clearly crossed the line of human decency.’

LANCASTER —  An AIDS education and support group has filed a complaint with federal authorities, alleging that a Lancaster radio talk show host made offensive and obscene comments to a local resident during a live broadcast.

At a news conference on Friday, members of the Lancaster-based Catalyst Foundation for AIDS Awareness and Care displayed an Aug. 3 complaint letter the group sent to the Federal Communications Commission. The complaint alleges that remarks made by KHJ-AM radio host Herb Nero “clearly crossed the line of human decency.”

Physician Susan F. Lawrence, who founded Catalyst, said that on July 29 Brian Maxey, the organization’s vice president, was engaged in a heated on-air discussion with Nero, which culminated in Maxey calling Nero a derogatory name.

According to Lawrence, Nero replied with a demeaning term for homosexuals, then said, “I hope you die of AIDS.”

She acknowledged that the radio host was reacting to being called a nasty name.

“However, this does not justify wishing death from a horrible illness on another human being,” Lawrence said. “We are asking the FCC to investigate this situation and make a determination as to whether wishing death by a terrible disease to a caller on the air constitutes indecent and obscene programming.”

Catalyst members, who appeared Friday with supporters from gay organizations and AIDS support groups from Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Valley, also charged that Nero spread misinformation and promoted hatred in connection with the Antelope Valley Gay Pride festival, held last month in Lancaster.

Andy Vierra, program director at KHJ, said the conservative talk show host does not remember uttering all of the remarks described in Catalyst’s complaint, and the program was not taped.

“We’ve sat down and talked to him about what may have been a better way to handle things,” Vierra said, adding that Nero apologized during his next show.

But Vierra said the FCC complaint is not justified. “The tone of Herb’s show and his comments may have been tasteless and may have been offensive to some people, but they certainly weren’t obscene.”

Marcia Diamond, an attorney with the FCC’s enforcement division in Washington, D.C., said Friday that the Catalyst group’s complaint had not yet been reviewed.

She said the FCC does not address whether a broadcaster’s comments are factual, only whether they violate the rules against airing obscene or indecent material.

“People say a lot of ugly things on the air,” Diamond said. “Not all of them are violations of the law. They may not be nice, but they may not be illegal.”

The FCC complaint was not the first time the Catalyst group has challenged an Antelope Valley business on AIDS-related issues. Last year, the group complained to state officials about a Lancaster mortuary owner who refused to handle the funerals of people who died of AIDS.

The uproar prompted the funeral director to reverse his policy.

More recently, Catalyst organized a march in support of Antelope Valley Gay Pride festival after some local residents vowed to picket the event. Only a handful of picketers actually showed up for the event.