statement.<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cThe attacks on women who speak their mind need to stop. The use of the language of a rape culture needs to stop.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am calling on WGN, on radio host Steve Cochran, and on Governor Rauner to issue an apology. Not for me, but for the millions of women who\u2019ve been victims of violence or sexual abuse, who could turn the radio on, and hear a radio personality suggest to the Governor that duct tape be used to silence a woman and rather than have the Governor denounce that type of language, instead laugh right along with him. Rape culture language is not a laughing matter and it\u2019s never OK.\u201d<\/p>\n
Todd Manley, vice president of content and programming at WGN, called Cochran's choice of words \"unfortunate,\u201d adding he \u201cshould have never said it.\"<\/p>\n
Here is the text of Cochran\u2019s apology, which he posted on social media:<\/strong><\/p>\nI chose my words poorly when I made a comment earlier this week while Governor Bruce Rauner was a guest on my show. My comments offended Comptroller Susana Mendoza and I apologize.<\/em><\/p>\nFurthermore the words were mine and mine alone.<\/em><\/p>\nThe comment was meant to be about my opinion that there is far too much grandstanding and not enough action by those in power to fix our state budget disaster.<\/em><\/p>\nI must add the following. I grew up in a house where I witnessed violence by my father against my mother. Nothing is more offensive to me. I have worked with agencies to raise funds and awareness to this cause. I have contributed my time and money to this fight. I have used my platform as a public person to speak out on this scourge for more than 30 years. As a husband, father, and grandfather to two amazing women and one incredible little girl, I'm proud of the work I've done and continue to do on this cause.<\/em><\/p>\nMy hope is that the leaders in state Government will work just as hard to finally finish a budget that will in part help fund the cause of stopping violence against women and helping the victims who are still in jeopardy.<\/em><\/p>\nMy comment has been misrepresented by the Comptroller today. Neither the Comptroller nor her office made any attempt to contact me prior to her public statement today. She is welcome on the show to continue this discussion in person and I hope she will join me.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Steve Cochran has apologized to Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza for suggesting that Governor Bruce Rauner put duct tape over her mouth. \u201cI chose my words poorly when I made a comment earlier this week while Governor Bruce Rauner was a guest on my show,\u201d said Cochran, who hosts mornings on Tribune Broadcasting news\/talk WGN AM... Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13825"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13825"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13825\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13833,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13825\/revisions\/13833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}