Tim Conway Jr.

Introduction

Tim Conway Jr. is an American talk-radio host best known for the weeknight program The Tim Conway Jr. Show, which has aired on KFI-AM (iHeartMedia) in Los Angeles since 2010. In May 2021 he and his executive producer, Sheron Bellio, were suspended without pay for a week after a skit they performed on May 3 was described as being “filled with Asian-American insults and racist stereotypes.” The suspensions came under pressure from the Media Action Network for Asian Americans, and the station responded with a public statement, an apology, and a run of anti-AAPI hate-education PSAs. The episode was one of several high-profile suspensions of talk-radio hosts for racially insensitive content in the spring of 2021.

Background Information

Tim Conway Jr. is the son of the late American television and film comedian Tim Conway. He rose to popularity as a longtime host on the former Los Angeles FM talk station KLSX, where he was first paired with Doug Steckler and later with other co-hosts. His weeknight show at KFI-AM began on Monday, January 18, 2010, and by 2021 it was a staple of the station’s late-evening lineup, airing from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Pacific. Conway is a well-established figure in Los Angeles talk radio, and the station’s late-night block depended on his audience.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

On May 3, 2021, Conway and Bellio performed a skit in which Conway pretended to interview Yuko Sakamoto — the wife of local radio personality Vic “The Brick” Jacobs. Bellio impersonated Sakamoto, attempting a Japanese accent (Sakamoto does not even speak with an accent), and the skit included shouting “Hiya” and other martial-arts noises and a line that it was “brought to you by Subaru.” The segment was quickly criticized by the presidents of the Media Action Network for Asian Americans, and civil-rights leader and founding MANAA president Guy Aoki applied pressure for the station to act. KFI-AM subsequently suspended both Conway and Bellio without pay for the week, with Deadline first reporting the suspension on May 25, 2021.

Public Reaction and Consequences

Conway and Bellio both issued apologies, and Conway’s statement — shared through Deadline — acknowledged the decision directly. “Both Sheron and I will be off this week — yep, suspended,” he wrote. “We whole-heartedly agreed with that decision and, again, we are both incredibly sorry. We will look forward to returning to the show on Tuesday, June 1st, with a fresh perspective.” Conway added that the time off was important for recognizing the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes. As a result of the episode, KFI-AM began running anti-AAPI hate-education PSAs, and the KFI news team produced a two-hour on-air special focused on raising awareness of anti-Asian hate crimes. The suspension was a one-week, without-pay measure rather than a termination.

Current Status

As of the sources reviewed, Conway and Bellio returned to The Tim Conway Jr. Show on Tuesday, June 1, 2021, following the one-week suspension. The show continued on KFI-AM’s late-evening lineup, and the station’s public response — the apology, the anti-AAPI PSAs, and the on-air special — stood as its stated remedy. The episode remained a reference point in the broader 2021 wave of suspensions of talk-radio hosts for racially insensitive content, and the station’s PSA campaign and on-air special continued as its public response to the backlash.

Impact on Their Career/Life

For Conway, the consequence was a one-week, without-pay suspension and a public apology rather than a loss of his job — his show returned the following week. But the episode landed during a national moment of heightened awareness of anti-Asian hate, and it brought the station and his late-night program into a sustained public reckoning, including a multi-hour on-air special and a run of educational PSAs. The case is cited as an example of how a single skit, when it lands in a moment of national sensitivity, can trigger a suspension and a station-wide response even when the host is an established, long-running figure. The suspension was a real professional consequence — a forced week off the air, without pay — though it did not end his tenure at KFI.