C.J.: Human rights guy wants B96 DJ to Tone it down and Fly right

Isn't this a b!

Tone E. Fly can't say that out loud, but the B96 DJ might be thinking it. On Wednesday he's scheduled to explain, in a forum not of his choosing, why he called "American Idol" alum Paris Bennett "a dumb [b-word]."

St. Paul's Human Rights Department head Tyrone Terrill confirmed Monday that he is having a meeting with "community leaders," B96 GM Steve Woodbury and Fly, whose bills are addressed to Anthony Distasio. "I asked for it," Terrill told me. He was away over the holidays when the December incident occurred and said he wants to know "what happened and what are they doing to correct it."

Regular readers of my column know the answers to these questions, but not Terrill: "I don't read your column. I don't read the paper period. Dick Gregory taught me years ago never read the paper and if you do, read it back to front."

Gregory's bias against newspapers probably dates to the 1950s and 1960s. It's a new day.

"I have a lot more reliable sources than a newspaper," Terrill said.

Next time our paths cross, I'm going to give Terrill a reading test, but on Monday I settled for reading the Dec. 23 column to him.

"I see no reason for the meeting," Woodbury said he told Terrill in an e-mail sent about two minutes before I called Monday. "Not only have we talked to Tone E., we've changed our policy and philosophy. Tone E. was on this morning and it was noticeably absent and I had some people call me and say thank you, thank you.

"Why is Clyde Bellecourt coming [to this meeting]?" Woodbury asked me, "and members of the Hispanic community. I have no idea, unless there's another agenda."

According to B96's Miss Shannan, Fly has used that same phrase in describing "Girls Gone Wild" creator Joe Francis and the young woman who puts the lite in socialite Paris Hilton.

Harry (Butch) Davis Jr., son of the late Minneapolis civil rights activist and school board member W. Harry Davis, told me that a previous complaint he made to B96 foreshadowed the trouble this word would cause Distasio.

In a Christmas Day interview, Davis said he complained via e-mail two months ago to Woodbury about Distasio's use of the phrase "bitch slap."

Davis, who works in resource development for Hennepin County, said he's "sick and tired of [blacks] lowering the bar and then people mimicking us thinking it's OK. The n-word is out of hand and you know it."

On Monday, Davis sent me an e-mail expressing satisfaction that Distasio has stopped saying "bitch slap" and started saying "slap down." While slapping -- except of hands -- is imagery that Davis cannot support, it at least shows some progress.

Terrill's meeting sounds like a superfluous exercise -- unless Paris and Jamecia Bennett are there. That'd be a meeting Distasio would never forget.

No time for Josh posse Gail Pesis almost got Josh Hartnett right where she wanted him.

"He's a real cutie," Pesis said.

Would have loved seeing that posse, especially Hartnett's female member of the moment.