SACRAMENTO — Reacting to critics, the leader of the KRXQ's "Rob, Arnie & Dawn" show has posted a letter dated Sunday on the radio station's Web site saying the trio will stop broadcasting live shows until Thursday, when they will "say what needs to be said."

Bank of America, Verizon, Chipotle and other companies have pulled advertising from the Sacramento station (98.5 FM) after talk show hosts referred to transgender people as freaks with mental disorders.

During a May 28 show, one of the three hosts said he would hit his child with his shoe if the boy wanted to wear high heels. Another said he would tell a boy he was "a little idiot" if he asked to wear a dress.

"If my son, God forbid, if my son put on a pair of high heels, I would probably hit him with one of my shoes. I would throw a shoe at him," said Arnie States, co-host of the "Rob, Arnie & Dawn" show, which usually airs mornings on KRXQ in Sacramento.

In response, transgender advocates and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation have sought an apology from two of the show's three hosts, States and Rob Williams.

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation had called for States to apologize and demanded action from the station owners. Entercom Communications Corp., based in Bala Cynwyd, Pa., owns KRXQ and more than 100 other radio stations across the nation.

In the letter posted on the Web site, Williams addresses followers by saying, "We have failed you. As a show, as people, as broadcasters, we have simply failed on almost every level."

Officials with Bank of America Corp. and Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. said Friday their companies pulled advertising because they found the comments offensive. Representatives of Verizon Communications Inc. and Carl's Jr. restaurants also said they stopped advertising, according to the Associated Press.