Running on fumes: discussions of WEEI

[cornwalls@6]

Per usual, a meaningless slap on the wrist for this garbage. Neither of the two sports stations are serious about moving on from the disgusting tradition of race baiting, misogyny, and fuck-headed Bro humor they both have. They should be relentlessly called out for it, and never given the benefit of the doubt again. That includes all the hosts of the shows. I would love to see meaningful sponsor boycotts, but this will just die a quiet death like Metco, Erin Andrews, Mazz, etc., with no one losing their job, or being held accountable in any real way.

 

[BringBackMo]

Not sure what this has to do with the subject. I use accounting terms all the time that non-accountants would find strange. But none of them are also slurs and we don’t exchange knowing glances when we use them

and I always thought “dink” was a childish term for a penis.

I was going for subtle but ended up burying the point I was trying to make. When you’re a racist, you hang out with other racists and you’re all intimately familiar with racist language. The fact that others don’t recognize your language as racist in no way makes it debatable whether what you’re saying is actually racist. It is.

 

[Lose Remerswaal]

I was going for subtle but ended up burying the point I was trying to make. When you’re a racist, you hang out with other racists and you’re all intimately familiar with racist language. The fact that others don’t recognize your language as racist in no way makes it debatable whether what you’re saying is actually racist. It is.

Ahhh. I thought you might have been going there but didn’t see you arrive.

 

[gammoseditor]

I like how his most recent tweet is repeating a thought on Donte Hightower that Mina Kimes had said hours before. But sure Mina Kimes isn’t in his head it was Mila Kunis.

 

[DJnVa]

Can anyone explain why him meaning Mila Kunis is a defense? She's Ukrainian by birth and not someone that would normally be called an Asian slur, but I'm still struggling to see how that matters. It's like if he called someone the n word and said it should be okay because he meant to say it about a white person.

Mina Kimes also has to be one of the most beloved people in sports media. Obviously you should never make a comment like that, but the fact that it was about her and not someone more divisive is an even bigger fuck-up.

I think we should come down on the side that says it's all a big fuck-up no matter the target.

 

[Riconway3155]

Can anyone explain why him meaning Mila Kunis is a defense? She's Ukrainian by birth and not someone that would normally be called an Asian slur, but I'm still struggling to see how that matters. It's like if he called someone the n word and said it should be okay because he meant to say it about a white person.





I think we should come down on the side that says it's all a big fuck-up no matter the target.

His excuse was he was referring to "nipples" aka breasts - and thought of Mila Kunis first. While an absolute knockout, she would not be my first or tenth name in that regard.

 

[wilked]

Serious question - does anyone here listen to / enjoy this morning show?

 

[wilked]

Also, I am reminded of this old fable
https://www.bedtimeshortstories.com/the-scorpion-and-the-frog/amp

edit to add context - I didn't need this latest incident to know that the program and hosts were racist and insensitive. That's their entire shtick, and unless I'm mistaken that is the audience they are programming for. It has been this way for many years

 

[NortheasternPJ]

Serious question - does anyone here listen to / enjoy this morning show?

I honestly think it's the worst show I've heard and I don't know how anyone listens to it. It's awful and boring.

 

[joe dokes]

His excuse was he was referring to "nipples" aka breasts - and thought of Mila Kunis first. While an absolute knockout, she would not be my first or tenth name in that regard.

Nor is naming a particular individual even necessary in the context of the conversation...IF he was trying to be funny and not racist. He could have just said "women's ." Then he'd just be the 13-year old under the covers with the vaseline that his listeners expect.

 

[24JoshuaPoint]

As someone who even used to occasionally listen to the previous morning show during my drive to work (no idea why i listened), i've tried to listen to this one a few times and have found it awful.

And agree, the Mila kunis argument makes zero sense by hoping people believe i just meant "insert any random womens name here". It only makes sense trying to cover up his blunder. They should toss him and maybe they will and just need to figure out the details?

 

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

"I was being sexist, not racist" is one hell of a defense.

Burn that station to the ground and salt the earth afterwards. What an awful place.

 

[Mahkis Smaht]

I can't speak for Mina (I am neither half as beautiful nor a quarter as intelligent) but I would be more offended that they think they can get by with this obvious lie about Mila Kunis than the original offense. Like how stupid are we supposed to pretend to be? This wouldn't convince an 8 year old.

I really got familiar with 'nip' as a slur for the Japanese when I read the story of Guy Gabaldon:

http://www.wtj.com/articles/gabaldon/

I presume not many people are terribly offended at Guy Gabaldon to call japanese people nips in this particular story. He might be the only white guy who gets this pass.

 

[Kliq]

I only know the slur because Pink Floyd used it in “The Post War Dream.” I’m not surprised that others here are unfamiliar with it. But I’m not sure why that matters.

I mean, do people actually think a guy making a crass boobies joke reached for Mina Kimes, of all people? Come on.

It’s obvious that it was a racist remark, and it’s obvious what should happen next.

That is the only reason I know the slur as well, and for a long time I thought Waters was saying "nymphs'" and really only through context clues can you really figure out what he is saying.

 

[Mystic Merlin]

Just listened to his statement…what a slippery fuck.

 

[mjs]

Growing up in MA during the Yaz era, I understood "dink" to mean penis, and be a milder word to employ if you really wanted to call someone a "prick" or "dick". I had forgotten entirely about it, but have heard Tom Curran say it on his Patriots Talk podcast, and it just sounded odd and quaint. I think he means it the way it was used in my youth. I was unaware that is is also an anti-Vietnamese slur. Reading these discussions is often a learning experience for me.

 

[Mahkis Smaht]

Did you know that WEEI personalities can also use the forbidden and well known slur for black people at their leisure?

You see, the word they are really using is the Chinese word for "uhh..."

 

[wilked]

Growing up in MA during the Yaz era, I understood "dink" to mean penis, and be a milder word to employ if you really wanted to call someone a "prick" or "dick". I had forgotten entirely about it, but have heard Tom Curran say it on his Patriots Talk podcast, and it just sounded odd and quaint. I think he means it the way it was used in my youth. I was unaware that is is also an anti-Vietnamese slur. Reading these discussions is often a learning experience for me.

Same here. My mom doesn't use foul language to me generally but will tell me not to 'act like a dink'. It was also generally known at least in my friends group as a nickname for a dick, but usually used when you wanted to 'soften' the language (whereas 'cock' is on the other end of the spectrum).

The Vietnamese thing is new to me for sure

 

[gammoseditor]

Just listened to his statement…what a slippery fuck.

A lot of twitter comments pointed out he apologized to Mina several times but not to Mila who he claims he meant to offend. Not sure if it’s true because I don’t listen to the show and didn’t see them release anything online.

 

[Mahkis Smaht]

A lot of twitter comments pointed out he apologized to Mina several times but not to Mila who he claims he meant to offend. Not sure if it’s true because I don’t listen to the show and didn’t see them release anything online.

I would put better than even money that Mina Kimes actually is one of his favorite asian people.

 

[Patriot_Reign]

The "I misspoke" defense is odd.

If he did, why didn't he immediately correct himself?

 

[JohnnyTheBone]

Just listened to his statement…what a slippery fuck.

"Tell me about it!" - His wife

 

[Trlicek's Whip]

A lot of you didn't 1) watch All in the Family nor 2) grow up half-Asian in New England in the 70's-80's, and it shows

The beauty of being an off-the-rack shrugging racist, and especially one that is anti-Asian, is that one is can deploy a range of ethnic slurs because these same troglodytes perceive "Asian" as monolithic, so they don't know or don't care which specific slur they should actually be calling you. (Because we all look the same, amirite?)

I was rarely identified as Vietnamese, but that didn't stop me from hearing all the Chinese, Japanese, Korean etc slurs anyone could think of when I was growing up. And of course this was reinforced through some aggressively racist tropes in film and television, especially with the Japanese xenophobia and the fear that they were taking over our capitalism in the Reagan 80's.

I can't believe I'm writing this, but in trying to give people the benefit of the doubt, I actually think there's a non-zero chance he was doing a "BOOBIES!" joke and actually did confuse the two people. I think it's POSSIBLE that it's an unfortunate coincidence that Kimes is Asian. Especially given people here saying they didn't really think of the racial slur. I think it's worth considering the possibility. Still not cool, but a different type of not acceptable. I dunno.

This is the "just being reasonable" and "both sides" I'm used to ignoring in the New York Times. Unless you're related to him or have WEEI stock options, why try to understand why a racist might not be racist?

 

[Trlicek's Whip]

I honestly think it's the worst show I've heard and I don't know how anyone listens to it. It's awful and boring.

Maybe this is his 3D chess move to get a job with Barstool, where this kind of stuff is celebrated and revered and in their bylaws.

 

[CaptainLaddie]

Mina Kimes is the only good thing on any ESPN platform.

C'mon, that's not fair. Buccigross is great, Tony Reali is awesome and evidently the kindest man in the world, Stefania Bell is so smart.... I can go on. There's a bunch of great people there.

 

[Cellar-Door]

People being surprised that the guy got a perfunctory slap on the wrist miss that generally that's what the audience is. Sports talk radio is basically political talk radio, it's targeted toward dumb, mysoginistic, homophobic, casually racist white dudes. It's a feature not a bug that they are pond scum, and occasionally have to give an insincere apology when something is bad enough to get picked up outside the bubble.

 

[John Marzano Olympic Hero]

People being surprised that the guy got a perfunctory slap on the wrist miss that generally that's what the audience is. Sports talk radio is basically political talk radio, it's targeted toward dumb, mysoginistic, homophobic, casually racist white dudes. It's a feature not a bug that they are pond scum, and occasionally have to give an insincere apology when something is bad enough to get picked up outside the bubble.

Agreed. And to add, this will happen again really soon and we'll get outraged again, pretty much type the same things that we typed this round, EEI or The Sports Hub will "punish" the offender, shrug its shoulders and we'll start the cycle all over again. How long did Dennis and Callahan have to pull this shit before they got the boot? A decade? More? The people at EEI and TSH don't care, in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they were all looking at Wednesday books when this POS comes back. They'll have a bump and their sales guys can brag about how they came really close to beating Toucher and Rich (on one random Wednesday, at the end of March for 15 minutes).

 

[MyDaughterLovesTomGordon]

This is the "just being reasonable" and "both sides" I'm used to ignoring in the New York Times. Unless you're related to him or have WEEI stock options, why try to understand why a racist might not be racist?

I don't mean to diminish the actual offense - it's really fucking bad - just trying to understand how it might have happened, since you would THINK a relatively seasoned radio professional wouldn't just drop a racial slur that casually in a live broadcast. But I don't think the explanation passes the straight-face test. My new theory is that Curtis uses that term somewhat regularly among friends and forgot where he was in the moment. Which is really shitty. As I said before, I'm done with 'EEI now. And I feel bad about myself for giving it as much rope as I did.

 

[TheWizard]

Agreed. And to add, this will happen again really soon and we'll get outraged again, pretty much type the same things that we typed this round, EEI or The Sports Hub will "punish" the offender, shrug its shoulders and we'll start the cycle all over again. How long did Dennis and Callahan have to pull this shit before they got the boot? A decade? More? The people at EEI and TSH don't care, in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they were all looking at Wednesday books when this POS comes back. They'll have a bump and their sales guys can brag about how they came really close to beating Toucher and Rich (on one random Wednesday, at the end of March for 15 minutes).

Agree. Whether you liked them or not Dennis and Callahan brought in big ratings, at the end not as big but still enough where good money was rolling. When money is flowing people will turn a blind eye. The current morning show on WEEI does not bring in big ratings, currently 11th combined with the Audacy stock at 11 cents and probably will be delisted. I'm guessing the show will get a short term bump from this but about it.

 

[Myt1]

A lot of you didn't 1) watch All in the Family nor 2) grow up half-Asian in New England in the 70's-80's, and it shows

The beauty of being an off-the-rack shrugging racist, and especially one that is anti-Asian, is that one is can deploy a range of ethnic slurs because these same troglodytes perceive "Asian" as monolithic, so they don't know or don't care which specific slur they should actually be calling you. (Because we all look the same, amirite?)

I was rarely identified as Vietnamese, but that didn't stop me from hearing all the Chinese, Japanese, Korean etc slurs anyone could think of when I was growing up. And of course this was reinforced through some aggressively racist tropes in film and television, especially with the Japanese xenophobia and the fear that they were taking over our capitalism in the Reagan 80's.

My most recent observed usage of the word prior to this was in recently reading an oral history of The Karate Kid. During his comedy days, Pat Morita would sometimes bill himself as “The Hip Nip,” and that comedy persona led some people at the studio to doubt whether he had the gravitas to pull off the role.

I can’t tell now whether my knowledge of it being a racial slur dates back to childhood or something more recent (yesterday, I rewatched the “This watch” scene from Pulp Fiction, but my ear told me that they checked a whole bunch of other slur boxes, just not this one). I have a memory of other Asian racial slurs being used more often in my neighborhood when I was a kid, but this was still pretty obvious to me.

 

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

I don't mean to diminish the actual offense - it's really fucking bad - just trying to understand how it might have happened, since you would THINK a relatively seasoned radio professional wouldn't just drop a racial slur that casually in a live broadcast. But I don't think the explanation passes the straight-face test. My new theory is that Curtis uses that term somewhat regularly among friends and forgot where he was in the moment. Which is really shitty. As I said before, I'm done with 'EEI now. And I feel bad about myself for giving it as much rope as I did.

Aka the Thom Brennaman.

 

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

My most recent observed usage of the word prior to this was in recently reading an oral history of The Karate Kid. During his comedy days, Pat Morita would sometimes bill himself as “The Hip Nip,” and that comedy persona led some people at the studio to doubt whether he had the gravitas to pull off the role.

I can’t tell now whether my knowledge of it being a racial slur dates back to childhood or something more recent (yesterday, I rewatched the “This watch” scene from Pulp Fiction, but my ear told me that they checked a whole bunch of other slur boxes, just not this one). I have a memory of other Asian racial slurs being used more often in my neighborhood when I was a kid, but this was still pretty obvious to me.

Sadly this one was one of three anti-Asian slurs I heard regularly when growing up in RI (not directed towards me, obviously). Less often than the other two but still sickeningly familiar enough to elicit immediate recognition.

 

[joe dokes]

People being surprised that the guy got a perfunctory slap on the wrist miss that generally that's what the audience is. Sports talk radio is basically political talk radio, it's targeted toward dumb, mysoginistic, homophobic, casually racist white dudes. It's a feature not a bug that they are pond scum, and occasionally have to give an insincere apology when something is bad enough to get picked up outside the bubble.

The Venn diagram between Glob commenters (on CFinn's story) and the WEEI target audience isn't far from a single circle. I suspect that as long as the comments there and elsewhere aren't more than 2/3 negative, they are declaring victory to themselves.

 

[Patriot_Reign]

People being surprised that the guy got a perfunctory slap on the wrist miss that generally that's what the audience is. Sports talk radio is basically political talk radio, it's targeted toward dumb, mysoginistic, homophobic, casually racist white dudes. It's a feature not a bug that they are pond scum, and occasionally have to give an insincere apology when something is bad enough to get picked up outside the bubble.

In a previous life I used to hate listen to Howie Carr and every now and then someone would troll him about getting crushed in the ratings by WEEI. He'd then go on a "Oh rah rah rah! Go Tom Brady team go go go to victory!" lame schtick trying to make fun of sports radio listeners. Would then proceed to proclaim how sports talk wasn't REAL talk radio. Always made me crack a smile that he couldn't see (or was in dential) how sports talk is EXACTLY like political talk radio.

 

[RorschachsMask]

View: https://twitter.com/minakimes/status/1638972385130082304?s=20

 

[JohnnyTheBone]

Oh, I see that Jason Whitlock is still an a$$hole. Flawless takedown by Mina.

 

[John Marzano Olympic Hero]

Jason Whitlock is one of the biggest pieces of shit in the world of sports. WTF is he even talking about here? How is this all her fault exactly?

 

[NortheasternPJ]

My most recent observed usage of the word prior to this was in recently reading an oral history of The Karate Kid. During his comedy days, Pat Morita would sometimes bill himself as “The Hip Nip,” and that comedy persona led some people at the studio to doubt whether he had the gravitas to pull off the role.

I can’t tell now whether my knowledge of it being a racial slur dates back to childhood or something more recent (yesterday, I rewatched the “This watch” scene from Pulp Fiction, but my ear told me that they checked a whole bunch of other slur boxes, just not this one). I have a memory of other Asian racial slurs being used more often in my neighborhood when I was a kid, but this was still pretty obvious to me.

Holy shit, Myt1 is actually Jason Whitlock

I then watched old footage of Pat Morita’s stand-up routine. Before he starred in the movie “The Karate Kid,” Morita was a comic. He called himself “the Hip Nip.”

https://www.theblaze.com/fearless/oped/whitlock-espn-and-mina-kimes-pick-a-racial-fight-with-a-radio-lightweight

 

[NortheasternPJ]

Jason Whitlock is one of the biggest pieces of shit in the world of sports. WTF is he even talking about here? How is this all her fault exactly?

He's the same guy that loves talking about racism but at the same time calls LeBron James a bigot, ripped Kaepernick one of the worse human beings in America, victim blamed George Floyd and piles of other crap and now shitting on her for being asian and attractive and implying that she's only ahead of because of how she looks.

This is probably a whole thread on how Whitlock is one of the biggest pieces of shit in sports, if not America.

 

[Myt1]

Holy shit, Myt1 is actually Jason Whitlock



https://www.theblaze.com/fearless/oped/whitlock-espn-and-mina-kimes-pick-a-racial-fight-with-a-radio-lightweight

The shorthand stuff is just an incredibly silly defense—you can tell how much he totally believes it by how many times he felt the need to mention it. “Jap” is short for Japanese, too. I notice that he didn’t use that as a comparison. Curious, that.

 

[joe dokes]

There's nothing objectively wrong with not knowing it's a slur. A not-shithead (i.e., not Whitlock) would have taken this as a chance to learn something.

 

[NortheasternPJ]

There's nothing objectively wrong with not knowing it's a slur. A not-shithead (i.e., not Whitlock) would have taken this as a chance to learn something.

Whitlock's spent the last 3+ years being the opinion guy on racism. I don't buy it for a second. Whitlock's super power is being on the wrong side of almost every issue.

 

[Kliq]

Whitlock's sold-out to being the far-right's favorite Black guy to commentate on racial issues related to sports and that is the grift he is now in.

Mina can do whatever she wants, but I wouldn't have even bothered giving him any attention with a QT. That's all a troll like Whitlock wants.

 

[jose melendez]

The shorthand stuff is just an incredibly silly defense—you can tell how much he totally believes it by how many times he felt the need to mention it. “Jap” is short for Japanese, too. I notice that he didn’t use that as a comparison. Curious, that.

And "Gook" isn't offensive because it has it's origin in the Korean language???? I don't know if he believes his own bullshit or he just makes money off of it, but that's what it is--bullshit.

 

[NortheasternPJ]

And "Gook" isn't offensive because it has it's origin in the Korean language???? I don't know if he believes his own bullshit or he just makes money off of it, but that's what it is--bullshit.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2021/08/10/jason_whitlock_racism_is_now_the_new_gold_and_people_mine_for_racism_gold.html#!

Of course he realizes it. He accused others of the same thing while we does the exact same thing

 

[Patriot_Reign]

Knew Whitlock was hard right but holy shit. Dude wrote an entire column about how Kimes was "hanging from the cross" when her ONLY response was to temporarily change her twitter avatar.
What a colossal asshole.

 

[Marciano490]

I never really heard of Kimes before, but I’m a fan now. “I still write about sports for a living” is beautiful.

 

[RorschachsMask]

I never really heard of Kimes before, but I’m a fan now. “I still write about sports for a living” is beautiful.

She’s incredible, is a great follow for multiple reasons. Really good at breaking down the game, is hilarious, and has no issue going at it with people on Twitter.

Her contract is up soon, she’s going to get PAID.

 

[Red(s)HawksFan]

Agreed. And to add, this will happen again really soon and we'll get outraged again, pretty much type the same things that we typed this round, EEI or The Sports Hub will "punish" the offender, shrug its shoulders and we'll start the cycle all over again. How long did Dennis and Callahan have to pull this shit before they got the boot? A decade? More? The people at EEI and TSH don't care, in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they were all looking at Wednesday books when this POS comes back. They'll have a bump and their sales guys can brag about how they came really close to beating Toucher and Rich (on one random Wednesday, at the end of March for 15 minutes).

The sad truth is that D&C (and Minihane) "got away" with a lot of shit because they were highly rated. They eventually got the boot more because their ratings started sagging. They were let go because the returns (low ratings, high rate of controversy) were no longer commensurate with their ridiculously high salaries.

What is infuriating is that their little acolyte (Curtis got his start producing on their show) is eminently replaceable and in no way worth the controversy and negativity an incident like this brings. Yet they still sell his BS excuse and slap him on the wrist.

 

[jose melendez]

The worst thing in the piece is Whitlock saying she only got the job because she’s Asian and female. She’s one of the 2-3 best people at ESPN