NEW YORK / LOS ANGELES – The President and CEO of CBS Entertainment Group in New York, George Cheeks, issued an apologetic statement on October 14 to Ambassador Armen Baibourtian, Consul General of Armenia of Los Angeles, according to Baibourtian’s Facebook site. Cheeks noted that two individuals entering the CBS lot in Studio City, California, on October 13 during an Armenian protest there and making “hateful and offensive comments” to the protestors were identified as CBS employees. These employees were fired and Cheeks stated “we condemn their language in the strongest terms.”
He concluded his letter as follows: “All of us here want you to know that we respect your right to peaceful protests, and we apologize to you and the Armenian community for this experience outside our facility.”
The Armenians were protesting local CBS coverage of an October 11 protest which included statements from Azerbaijan’s Los Angeles consul general. According to one report, an alleged employee, angry at not being able to enter the CBS lot, yelled “I hope you all die, and I hope your country gets blown up.”
.@cbsla employee shouting at peaceful #Armenia|n protestors outside CBS studios: “I hope you all die & I hope your country gets blown up”’ @KTLA @foxla @nbcla @abc7la @cnn @bbcnews @guardian_us @latimes @usatoday @nytimes @msnbc @tmz_tv pic.twitter.com/BN89v9MLWF
— ∎∎∎∎∎∎∎∎ ∎∎∎∎∎∎ (@517design) October 12, 2020
“Good thing you’re not #BLM (#BlackLivesMetter) or I would run your ass over” – a @cbsla affiliate threatening peaceful #Armenia|n protestors in Studio, CA. #peaceforarmenians #peaceforarmenia #sanctionazerbaijan #sanctionturkey #recognizeartsakh https://t.co/wT5pPqJwt4 pic.twitter.com/UzkVL67t25
— ∎∎∎∎∎∎∎∎ ∎∎∎∎∎∎ (@517design) October 12, 2020