Televangelist: I lost my show over Muslim remarks

ST. PETERSBURG -- Televangelist Bill Keller may have finally met an opponent he can't out-talk.

The controversial late-night Christian talk show host, known for his biting criticism of religious, political and pop culture figures, is going off the air. Keller, 49, says he ran afoul of the Tampa Chapter of the Council of American Islamic Relations. The group calls Live Prayer with Bill Keller a hate-filled broadcast that damages Muslims and Islam.

Earlier this month, CAIR asked CBS executives to remove Keller's nightly talk show from WTOG-TV Ch. 44, a CBS-owned station that airs the CW network locally. The group was upset about a spate of recent broadcasts by Keller that disparaged Islam and the prophet Mohammad.

CAIR's leaders say both local and network representatives assured them that the program would no longer air on the station after Sept. 11. WTOG station manager Laura Caruso said the decision to end Keller's contract was a mutual decision and had nothing to do with complaints from individuals or groups.

Keller disagrees.

He confirmed today that his show will no longer air after Aug. 31. But he cites CAIR's complaints as the primary reason for his departure, saying he had no desire to leave the station that has broadcast his program weekdays from 1 a.m. to 2 a.m. for nearly five years.

"I'm saying nothing now that I haven't been saying for five years," Keller said about the content of his broadcasts. "Ultimately, it was pressure by CAIR that intimidated these people into taking me off the air. It was not mutually agreeable. They told me they were taking me off the air, period."

Sherri Day, Times staff writer