Cell Phone Service Provider Pulls Offensive Ring Tone

Cingular Wireless has deleted a ring tone that it calls “blatantly offensive” after receiving complaints, some from the League of United Latin American Citizens, a lobbying group. The ring tone included pseudo-Spanish and references to deportation. As it turned out, the creator of the ring tone is himself Hispanic–he’s Paul Saucido, an Austin-based comedian, who says his purpose was satire. He originally created the ring tone, along with others, for a company called Barrio Mobile, which subsequently sold them to Cingular Wireless. The removal of the ring tone has caused comment nation-wide, both pro and con. Read more here, here, here and here.