A New response from LegalZoom Re: Savage

Last week, I posted a boilerplate response from LegalZoom after I wrote them regarding the company's advertising on Talk Radio Network, the parent company that employs Michael "Savage" Wiener. (Savage made some despicable comments about children with autism a few weeks back.)

Anyway, this morning I found a new response from LegalZoom in my inbox that I thought I'd share with you:

Dear R.J.,
My name is Scott and I run the advertising at LegalZoom.com. I received a copy today of a templated customer service email that went out to you in response to an email you sent to us regarding the Michael Savage show. I wanted to specifically address your email to us because I've seen a handful like it over the past week, especially since Mr. Savage made his autism remarks, and I hope to clear up some misperceptions.

LegalZoom has never sponsored the Michael Savage show or paid for ads in the Michael Savage show. We very likely will never advertise in that show. [Emphasis his]

There are a couple of websites that correctly say that we have advertised on Talk Radio Network. That is indeed the network that carries his program. But that in no way means that we are supporting or sponsoring the Savage show with one penny of our money.

In fact, we have asked the network to be sure that they do not air any of our ads in the Michael Savage program. Everything we buy must fall outside of Savage.

Granted, not everybody will like where we advertise, because you can find LegalZoom ads in conservative talk, liberal talk, and straight-down-the-middle talk. We're not out to support a viewpoint or opinion: we're merely trying to reach out to potential customers through advertising with our message of convenient, reliable legal document services that most Americans want or need.

So while we do advertise in lots of opinionated talk, I have to strongly reiterate that we are not a Michael Savage advertiser.

Please let me know if I can provide any more information, and thanks for your email and concerns.

Sincerely,
Scott MacDonell
VP Advertising
LegalZoom.com, Inc.

LegalZoom deserves some praise for the follow-up here, but the more I think about it, the more I think advertisers should not advertise on any of TRN's shows, since it sees fit to employ a despicable, contemptible hate monger like Savage-Wiener.

I reiterate once again that this is not a free speech issue - Savage-Wiener has the right to say whatever he wants to say, and I don't think he should be fired for his remarks. But, that doesn't mean that advertisers are under any obligation to support such a show, or a company that would choose to employ him.'

My letter-writing has fallen off lately about Savage (vacation looms), but I'm going to pick up the pace over the weekend. We need to keep up the heat on his show's advertisers, because it's working! Many companies have publicly stated that they will not advertise on his show, including Aflac. The more companies we can convince to jump ship, the better.

I'm writing MacDonnell in the next few days when I get a chance to praise his company for not advertising on Savage-Wiener's show, but that's not good enough. LegalZoom is still supporting a company that employs this hate monger, and we have to let that company and other companies like it know that they will not get our business until their support stops, unequivocally and without exception. I urge all you all to do the same. You can reach Scott MacDonnell from LegalZoom at: scottm@legalzoom.com.

By the way, Media Matters is doing tremendous work in documenting Savage's remarks, as well as giving activists tools to combat his hateful language. MM's latest entry on Savage is Here, but if you click around on the site, you can find much more information on Savage and his autism comments.