BEN STEIN VS. RADIO PERSONALITY ANTHONY CUMIA Cumia, a host on New York City's WNEW, won Ben Stein's enmity on April 28. While on hold waiting to be interviewed, Stein--host of Comedy Central's Win Ben Stein's Money--heard Cumia do a live commercial for a used- car company in which he employed the phrase "chew down" the price of a car. An angry Stein thought the line sounded too close to the offensive "Jew down." Stein derided the comment as "a crappy thing to do" and hung up. "Racism in this country is not a joke," says Stein. Cumia went on to imply that Stein propagates Jewish stereotypes on his game show (i.e., stinginess) and mocked Stein's service as a speechwriter for Richard Nixon, a "big anti-Semite." PANEL SAYS "Both are guilty," says Miller, "of overreacting." Notes Todd Gutnick, spokesman for the Anti-Defamation League: "We haven't received a single complaint about this. Ben Stein may have a problem with it. We don't."
(Additional reporting by Will Lee, Laura Morgan, and Joshua Rich)
