US radio DJs in fresh racism row

CBS head Leslie Moonves earlier acted against Don Imus

CBS Radio in the US has suspended two DJs for a prank on-air call to a Chinese restaurant using lewd language and ordering "shrimp flied lice".

The segment was first aired on 5 April, only a day after CBS broadcaster Don Imus called a women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos" and was later fired.

CBS has suspended New York-based DJs Jeff Vandergrift and Dan Lay indefinitely and without pay.

A US-Chinese association has said the two should be fired.

Mr Vandergrift apologised on Monday's show for the segment.

Vocal supporters

The call to the restaurant by the DJs of WFNY-FM's The Dog House With JV and Elvis show was also re-broadcast last week.

The Organisation of Chinese Americans (OCA) complained on Sunday and was joined on Monday by California State Senator Leland Yee and others.

Don Imus made repeated public apologies but still lost his job

In the six-minute prank broadcast, the caller says he wants to see one of the female employees of the restaurant naked and calls a part of her body "hot, Asian, spicy".

The caller brags of his kung fu abilities and swears a number of times.

Vicki Shu Smolin, president of the New York City branch of the OCA, said: "If they don't fire the DJs, it will be a double standard."

She threatened to organise protests against CBS and boycott advertisers on the station.

"They don't think they're going to get any backlash from the Asian-American community," Ms Shu told the New York Times. "They're definitely wrong."

The two suspended DJs had been vocal supporters on air of Don Imus.

Mr Imus was fired despite his repeated public apologies.

With the sacking, CBS head Leslie Moonves said he was trying to root out a culture of permissiveness that allowed people to be demeaned.