MOUSE TO MOUTH: SHUT UP!

By RICHARD CORLISS

The no. 1 gabber on the no. 1 talk-radio station in the No. 1 market called blacks "savages" and Haitian refugees "subhuman scum." Gays were "perverted misfits." Anyone who argued or spoke with an accent earned a raging "Get off my phone, you creep!"

It's not Bob Grant's phone anymore. Last week radio's Brahmin of bullies, 66, was disconnected from his audience on New York City's WABC. The apparent provocation: his speculation, on hearing of the crash of a plane carrying Commerce Secretary Ron Brown, that Brown would be the one survivor--"because, at heart, I'm a pessimist."

Such an ad-lib might have been only mildly sociopathic for Grant--or, with a different target, for Howard Stern or Don Imus. But WABC is owned by Capital Cities/ABC, which is owned by Disney, a company sensitive to image befoulers and potential boycotts. After the Brown joke, Jesse Jackson wrote Disney president Michael Ovitz urging Grant's swift dismissal. Ovitz replied that "we have already determined how we will handle the situation." The next day, before air time, Grant was told he was through.

Disney and ABC got rid of a nuisance, but Grant may be the real winner. When he returns to New York radio, as he surely will, he can blame the p.c. media for his firing. The rabid sorehead will be a professional martyr.

--By Richard Corliss. Reported by Jenifer Mattos/New York

With reporting by JENIFER MATTOS/NEW YORK