Outrage and accusations have been targeted at the New York City radio station Hot 97, WQHT-FM, for airing what some say is a racist satire of the tsunami tragedy in Southeast Asia to the tune of “We Are the World,” a song created in the 1980s to fight hunger in Africa.

Over the last week, the station has been bombarded by protestors — listeners and advertisers — some who have called on the Federal Communications Commission to penalize the station for the incident.

The parody of the song aired repeatedly during the “Miss Jones in the Morning” program throughout the week of January 17th until it was pulled on January 21st. The song contained racial slurs that made light of child slavery in the region and the manner in which over 200,000 people perished in the natural disaster on December 26th.

The station repeatedly aired the vocal rendition of the following lyrics: “Then the next thing I knew, a wave 20 feet high/Came and washed your whole country away/And all at once, you can hear the screaming chinks/And no one was saved from the wave/There were Africans drowning, little Chinamen swept away/You can hear God laughing, 'Swim you bitches, swim.'”

Hot 97 posted an apology on its website on January 21st and has removed an mp3 link to the song, along with its previous Tsunami Relief Effort webpage adorned with a banner advertisement for the “Miss Jones” program.

“HOT 97 regrets the airing of material that made light of a serious and tragic event,” reads the radio station’s statement. “We apologize to our listeners and anyone who was offended. Both HOT 97's program director and Miss Jones issued on-air apologies on Monday stating that the material was offensive and should not have been aired. HOT 97 takes pride in its community involvement and in the last few weeks has joined with broadcasters nationwide to raise money for victims of the tsunami. Our relief effort will result in a substantial cash donation.”

On January 24th, the New York City Council demanded further action from the radio station and appealed to the FCC to discipline the station.

''At a time when virtually the entire world has come together to help in the tsunami tragedy relief, employees of Hot 97 have come up with this song,'' said Assemblyman Jimmy Meng. ''We are disgusted and demand immediate action by the Federal Communications Commission.''

An mp3 version of one of the airings can be heard on okayplayer.com, where petitions are being mounted against Hot 97 and their advertisers. One recording showcases an argument between two of the “Miss Jones in the Morning” deejay hosts, Miss Jones and Miss Info. During the altercation, Miss Info, who is Asian American, says that she did not endorse the song. Miss Jones replied, “You feel superior, probably because you're Asian.” Co-host Todd Lynn retorts, “I'm gonna start shooting Asians.”

Samehe Ashaki of Tallahassee, Florida, heard the recording after a friend directed her to the website. “I think it is racist,” said Ashaki, “and as an African American, I think that when we do things like this we perpetrate the same thing we complain about against other minorities.”

Ashaki began one of two current Internet petitions against the station and has headed a letter-writing campaign demanding that the radio station fire the hosts from the show and sponsors pull their advertising. The two petitions combined had approximately 20,000 signatures as of January 25th.

Sprint PCS, who was mentioned as a sponsor of the segment on January 21st, issued a statement saying that they have “expressed our strong concern about this content to the radio station. The station has issued a public apology and appears to have disciplined the responsible parties.”

This is not the first incident that has drawn criticism of the station’s racism and insensitivity. Media attention was drawn to the station after morning host Star of the “Star and Buc Wild Show Featuring Miss Jones” played sound effects of an airplane crashing and people screaming when speaking of singer Aaliyah’s death in 2001.