Former Co-Host Sues Star and Clear Channel

Keysha Whitaker, known to radio listeners as Prozac Girl, the former co-host of The Star and Buc Wild Show, has filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against Star and Clear Channel Broadcasting, according to a report in the Connecticut Post. Whitaker first joined the show in 2003 while it was still being broadcast on New York’s Hot 97 and later accompanied Star to its new home on Hartford’s Power 104.1 in April of 2004. The lawsuit alleges that on May 24, 2004, Star spat on the show’s producer, Miguel Candelaria, and threatened the other show members in the room by saying, “All of you in here are going to get anointed with my spit.” Whitaker reportedly told Candelaria after the show that she would resign if the shock jock insisted on spitting at her. Whitaker objected again after the producer spat at another show member a few days later, after which she was dismissed by the producer and escorted out of the building.

The fired co-host claims she later received a phone call from Star where he told her she was fired because she was “sick” and “disabled.” The lawsuit claims intentional infliction of emotional distress, assault, defamation and violation of the Americans with Disability Act, the latter charge stemming from Whitaker’s bout with depression that spawned her on-air nickname. On Wednesday (July 26), U.S. District Judge Janet C. Hall declined Clear Channel’s request to dismiss the suit, although she did dismiss the assault charge after learning that the host didn’t actually spit on Whitaker. That particular charge could be reinstated if Whitaker’s attorney can prove that Star did in fact attempt to spit on her.