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Boston sports radio strikes again: On-air guy says he was trying to be sexist, not racist, with joke
By adamg on Thu, 03/23/2023 - 10:33am
Deadspin explains why City Councilors Ed Flynn and Ricardo Arroyo referred to "miniature alcohol bottles" rather than "nips" yesterday: On the Greg Hill Show on WEEI, Chris Curtis said one of his "top five nips" would be Asian-American sports reporter Mina Kimes. Curtis apologized, said he meant to blurt out the name of actress Mila Kunis, who has no Asian heritage.
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Comments
i didnt make a racial slur about Mina Kimes
i was commenting on Mila Kunis' nipples. nothing to see here.
just because i fool around with interns doesn't make me a bad guy.
Third option
Curtis made a sexist remark about Kimes and then was confronted with the racist double entendre. Rather than take the L and apologize for all of it, he made up the totally not credible "Mila Kunis" excuse both dismissing the racist aspect of his comment and trivializing the sexism of his comment making him 3x the dirtbag that he was when he made the comment.
WEEI's PR team should be fired and laughed out of the business for this one.
Their stock is 9 cents a share
And they have a metric (expletive)ton of debt.
Guarantee you they get PR personnel on the cheap.
Either comment is offensive.
Racist joke v sexist joke. Tomato tomahto.
I take him at his word.
Tasteless, not racist.
(Not sure about sexist either, but definitely objectifying)
I don't take him at his word
I think he got caught, and he's lying.
Good old-fashioned sexism!
I don’t believe he confused Kunis with Kimes. That is some grade-A bullshit. This guy deserves no benefit of the doubt. Whether it was old-fashioned sexism and not old-fashioned racism, only Curtis knows in his heart.
The thing is, if he didn’t say the overtly sexist thing, he never would have said the “accidentally” racist thing.
This guy deserves all the blowback.
So it would be sexist to say Julian Edelman has a great butt?
Accurate, I know, but sexist?
Are you saying that a bunch of men. . .
. . .talking at work about their colleague's nipples (Kimes) or the nipples of an actor who has never worked nude (Kunis) is not sexist? Because if you were, that would be a clown take.
I think he made a dumb, tasteless joke about nipples.
I think he mixed up the name of the person he was trying to reference.
I don't think there was any racist element to his comment.
Since it's talk radio, I don't think there's a workplace element to it, but I'd leave that to lawyers if it came to that. But as I understand it, it wasn't a bunch of men snickering about female anatomy. Did the other guys join in?
And lastly, no, I don't think it's inherently sexist. I think it's tasteless and objectifying. You could add rude, inappropriate, unnecessary, retrograde, offensive, and gross, and I wouldn't argue.
It’s sexist.
Dumb, tasteless, and sexist. At best.
Why downplay the sexism. What are you afraid of?
you see, if one white man
admits that another white man said racist or sexist things, then every white man will have to do the same. at least, that’s how i believe the thinking goes. it’s just like every other in-group/out-group dynamic.
Orthodoxy.
And groupthink.
Clownthink
LOL! Take the L, Scott. No white knight is needed to protect Curtis’s sexism.
Objectifying women and sexuizing body parts is textbook sexism. Show us a definition of sexism that excludes what Curtis said.
?
it’s not a sandwich; it’s lettuce, tomato, and meat piled up between two slices of bread
FTFY
When you reincarnate as a woman we might take your word for this.
Otherwise, stfu with the mansplaining doubledown already. You have no freaking idea what it is like to have to put up with this shit to make a living and it shows, honey, it shows.
You really are tiresome, Swirly.
Rock on.
Well...
...hit dogs holler.
Holler on.
You know what is really tiresome?
Putting up with bullshit and whining from privileged assholes like you who have NEVER EVER HAD TO DEAL WITH THIS SHIT ON THE DAILY.
That's what's tiresome, honey.
Just shut up until you grow up. I'll stop being "tiresome" when you stop engaging in racism and sexism and stop excusing and enabling sexism and racism.
Deal?
Since it's talk radio, I don
Are you a mind reader?
Meaning the comment was made during talk radio banter.
Doesn't seem to be hostile-work-environment thing, but like I said, that would be a question for lawyers.
“Those gals knew what they signed up for!”
Christ.
To think that the women who work behind the scenes or as on-air talent/guests at WEEI are exempt from the work place protections that prevent men from objectifying and sexualizing women’s body parts is some Jurassic, Mad Men-era thinking.
This is the same toxic BS defense that has been used in every complaint against “boys club” work places since the dawn of time. I’m old enough to remember when this was the same mentality weaponized against Herald reporter Lisa Olson and her 1990 sexual harassment suit against the Patriots and Victor Kaim.
Virtually every time this defense has be used in contemporary times, it has failed.
See comment below
Stay away from the keyboard until you grow up.
Cowards.
No, it was a bunch of cowardly men ignoring either the a.) sexist or b.) racist comment and helping out their bro by hoping that the audience would miss such a "rude, inappropriate, unnecessary, retrograde, offensive, and gross" comment.
Imagine if one of the bros had the fortitude to challenge Curtis on his comment!? Then at least we might have an answer to a.) who, specifically, he was talking about or b.) whether Curtis's comments were sexist or where they racist.
If you put it that way
He miscalculated in pivoting from Mina Kimes to Mila Kunis. He shoulda gone with Melania Knavs, who really doesn't even care.
Did anyone know nip was a slur??
I 100% think he meant Mika Kunis.
Who even knew Mina Kimes was Asian? She’s not Japanese either. Also Mika Kunis is much much more famous.
Either way WEEI is racist sexist filth that gets love in suburban New England.
Q: Who even knew Mina Kimes was Asian?
Jay, I agree with your bottom-line conclusion: "WEEI is racist sexist filth that gets love in suburban New England."
But Mina Kimes is on TV every day. Those in the sports media ecosystem know who Mina Kimes is. so:
A: Everyone in sports media knew Mina had Asian heritage.
Mila Kunis may be much more famous than Mina, but if you're in the sports media biz, Mina and Mila are probably equally well-known. Everyone in sports media knows that Mina Kines is Korean (or at least Asian) American.
nope, sorry
this should not be excused or justified as just "tasteless". stop protecting other men who do bad things.
Buuuuuuuuulllllllshhhiiiitttt
He basically used an anti-Asian slur and then said "I was just trying to be a sexist pig".
And, for racist sexist pigs that's just AOK - "just a joooooooooooooooooke".
He needs to go eff himself and stay away from microphones and keyboards and other humans until he grows the fuck up.
So do you.
You don't consider
referring to an Asian person as a "nip" as racist? It makes no difference if she's not Japanese. The racist doesn't know the distinction between "Jap," "Nip," "Chink" or "Slope." It doesn't make the terminology any less racist.
Oh my!
My delicate sensibilities !
Is there any potential downside
to just nuking the entire sports-talk-radio industry from orbit?
Yes
It would kill Adam Jones and Christian Arcand.
The only downside I think.
The only downside I think.
Fallout
There are innocent bystanders who can't help it that these pricks are located next door.
I'd love to have a sports radio station ...
... that broadcast just sports. Meaning, games live in progress. No talk, other than game announcing. Just sports.
That would result in about 15
That would result in about 15-24 hours of dead air- depending on the day- but that still might outperform WEEI's current #'s
I have not been a regular listener to Boston sports radio of any type for years- Glenn Ordway pushing idea that idea John Tomase lost SB 42 for the Patriots was the end of non-game listening of WEEI for me
Because sexist is fine?
Pathetic that this loser thinks saying he meant to be sexist makes everything all better.
"Oh, well, that's fine then,"
"Oh, well, that's fine then," said...well, I'm sure someone said it. But probably not a lot of people.
What year is this?
I'm not defending this clown, but I doubt anybody under 60 even knows "nip" was/is a racial slur for a Japanese person. Even the Deadspin article had to explain it.
I knew
I am under 45. I've heard "nip" as a Japanese slur many times.
What people know, and what he
What people know, and what he knew are two different things. His intent is whats really being challenged here.
Having watched the clip, its pretty obvious he was trying to slip in a coy joke about her being asian.
Yeah, it's quite a stretch
I've heard any number of racial slurs, but this one was new to me. I guess it makes sense (short for Nippon) but it hardly has any kind of currency.
"McHale's Navy"
The last time I ever heard "nip" used was as a child in the 1960s, on "McHale's Navy", a TV show which took place during WW2. In fact, that's where I first heard of it. I had to ask my parents what it meant.
Sheltered life, much?
I grew up knowing that it was an n-word as bad as that other n-word.
My husband got in a massive fight with his father about his use of it.
It is an absolute slur.
This one was also new to me.
This one was also new to me. Even my racist japanese-hating grandfather never used that one, and I was sure he'd used them alllll.
Jeez
No wonder Greg Hill gets his (expletive) handed to him by Toucher and Rich in the ratings: This bit didn't even have to arrive at racism or sexism to be just, well, thoughtless and not clever. LOL NIP MEANS BOTH SMALL SERVING OF LIQUOR AND WOMAN'S NIPPLE. This is precisely the kind of corniness that T&R mock all the way to a 25 share and a syndication deal.
The person I feel bad for in all of this is Mike Thomas: He's sincere in trying to bring WEEI forward, but there's just such a stain to those call letters. At least he was able to poach his old Sports Hub hands Jones and Arcand for afternoon drive. That's a big first step in finally getting the stink out of that brand once and for all.
Hey Will?
How many of your high school teachers in Burlington, VT were born or forced to live in a US built concentration camp? Neighbors? Parents of your classmates?
That's why its such a sensitive word.
I know it is
I'm sidestepping that discussion entirely, and simply criticizing the bit for being bereft of creativity.
Does anyone remember what
Does anyone remember what WEEI was broadcasting before they became an all news radio station in 1974? Whatever it was I'm just glad they kept CBS Mystery Radio Theater in the lineup.
https://cbsrmt.thelongtrek.com/MR_WEEI/MR_WEEI.html
What year did WEEI switch to sports?
They were on a different frequency back then
590 on the AM dial.
Confusingly, Wikipedia describes their history here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WEZE
Sometime in the 90's
I remember Sox games on NESN in 1995 showing a commercial for WEEI with then-Sox manager Kevin Kennedy sharing the program lineup, complete with Imus in the Morning pre-Dennis & Callahan.
Good team that year (er, the Sox, not EEI). That is, until they were swept in the ALDS by a white-hot Cleveland team...a series that was not televised at all in Burlington, Vermont, because it was played at the same time as the Yankees-Mariners series, which turned out more exciting at the end, anyway.
1991 was switch to sports at
1991 was switch to sports at 590- recall Andy Moes was morning guy with Ordway and Janet Prensky in middays and Eddie Andelman in afternoons- took about 5 years or so, the signal change to 850 and lineup shakeup (syndicated Imus, Andelman & Ordway switching timeslots) for station to get any traction
https://www.bostonherald.com
https://www.bostonherald.com/2023/03/24/howie-carrs-hub-radio-war-surviv...
Per Howie Carr:
"It is not enough to succeed, others must fail. Which is why I am so reveling in the agony of the wretched bust-out sports talk station WEEI and the company that owns it, Audacy."
For my part, I'm a sports fan who lost interest in 18-hour-a-day sports radio(at one time a prime source of sports info and opinion) with the advent of online sports coverage, i.e., Boston Sports Journal, The Athletic, the Morning Bru, etc.