Radio Station Offers Prize for Guessing When Britney Will Die

An apology has been posted on the website of Channel 955 in Detroit saying that DJ Big Boy’s contest was offensive. "If you can guess the exact day that Britney dies, whether it’s from drugs or however she dies, if you’re right, we’ll give you a thousand bucks," Big Boy announced on his Tuesday night radio show and on the channel’s website.

On the "Mojo in the Morning Show" on Channel 955 Wednesday morning, hosts Spike and Mojo were harshly critical of the stunt as well as the management of the station for letting it air. Spike is the emcee of a suicide awareness walk this weekend to raise money for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

"Big Boy is a great guy, but sometimes you go over the edge when you‘re preparing and planning things," Mojo said on his show. "But I’ve got to say I don’t agree with the contest." Spike quickly agreed with him. "I think this is coming from the top. Our boss is one of those guys who thinks any publicity is good publicity and he likes the attention it gets. It sickens me."

After the flood of negative reaction generated by the stunt, the radio station pulled the contest announcement from their website by Wednesday morning. Wednesday evening, a statement by Dom Theodore, manager of operations, was aired on the channel. Theodore apologized for anyone being offended by the contest. "In no way were we making light of death or suicide," he said, and then he blamed the media for contributing to Britney’s ongoing descent.

After his show on Wednesday, Spike continued to criticize his boss. "Mojo thinks we won’t have a job tomorrow because of what we said. I was personally embarrassed. For months I’ve been working on this walk, and it’s going to be difficult to get up in front of (suicide) survivors and their families representing the radio station that allowed this to happen." Spike has been talking about the walk every day on his show, and on Tuesday he sent an e-mail to friends to remind them of his plans to emcee the "Out of the Darkness" walk on Sunday. "I have lost a family member, a friend, and two former co-workers to suicide," Spike wrote. "It's the second-leading cause of death for college students and third-leading cause of death for teens." And then, just hours later, the radio station where he had been promoting his walk for months decided to let one of their shock jocks offer money for guessing the date that Britney Spears would commit suicide.

Suicide prevention experts are outraged at the offensive, tasteless stunt. Tammi Landry, the Michigan area director for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, told the Detroit News, "A contest like this is dangerous, especially to a very impressionable, depressed teenager. It’s making suicide an available option for them. The contagion is real."

Several people have called Landry to say that they will not participate in the walk if Spike is allowed to emcee it, since he works for the radio station that aired the contest. Landry plans to e-mail supporters to let them know that Spike had nothing to do with the stunt and is just as upset as they are.

The apology on the station’s website says that the $1,000 cash prize "was always going to be donated to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention." Landry bristles at the idea. "A thousand dollars for this walk would have been great, we need money for research and education, but I'm not taking money from an organization trying to get better ratings with a suicide watch," she said. But, she said, "I'll accept their apology and take their $1,000, if the contest is off."