Report: WWL/N.O. Claims Dunlap Sent Homophobic Tweet

RADIO ONLINE | Friday, September 27, 2019

WWL

WWL/New Orleans management believes the homophobic slur tweeted from the station's Twitter account to talk host Seth Dunlap earlier this month was sent from Dunlap's personal cellphone, according to a New Orleans Police Department, reports the Times-Picayune. The station also has accused Dunlap, who is 35 and openly gay, of threatening the station that he would go "scorched earth" over the tweet and demanding more than $1.8 million in damages, while he was facing personal financial troubles.

The police report, which summarizes allegations by WWL Senior VP Kevin Cassidy and attorneys for the station's parent Entercom, suggested law enforcement was still working to corroborate the station's allegations wrote the newspaper.

For now, the Times-Picayune reports that police have classified the case as a possible extortion, which Louisiana law defines, in part, as "the communication of threats to another with the intention (to) obtain anything of value." It is punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

In response, Dunlap's attorney Megan Kiefer said Entercom's allegations as presented in the police report were "defamatory and self-serving," and her client maintains the company's complaint is "littered with falsehoods." She alleged that WWL's attorneys "illegally used the threat of criminal prosecution" in order to settle any potential litigation with Dunlap following the tweet at a lower figure.

The newspaper says that WWL filed its complaint against Dunlap on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Dunlap announced he had passed a lie-detector test on whether he had accessed the station's Twitter profile to post the tweet himself or worked with someone else to do so. Kiefer also has announced her client's intention to sue the station, arguing that the tweet hinted at a broader homophobic culture at the station and was part of a hostile workplace.

Dunplap's attorney says he did not have password access to WWL Radio's Twitter profile, adding Thursday, "It is truly reprehensible (the station) would be attempting to blame the victim of its own anti-LGBT culture, and they are only compounding the severe damage that Mr. Dunlap has experienced at the hands of Entercom."