Former Patriots player suspended from radio job after strange on-air racial remarks
On Friday, we learned about a hoax involving a Boston Herald sportswriter that could very well cost him his job.
Columnist Ron Borges was duped by a texter claiming to be Tom Brady’s agent who said the superstar quarterback wouldn’t report to OTAs unless he received a contract equal to the record-setting deal the 49ers gave his former backup, Jimmy Garoppolo.
Borges has been suspended indefinitely, but the fallout continues.
WEEI-FM radio host Christian Fauria has been suspended for five days after a low-brow attempt at humor regarding the situation Friday.
Fauria, a former Patriot, performed a racially insensitive impression of Brady’s (and Garrapolo’s) agent, Don Yee, in a skit.
The routine exaggerated a stereotypical Asian accent for the Chinese-American Yee.
The Boston radio station apologized for the incident Friday night and announced Fauria’s suspension.
Earlier today during his show, Christian Fauria impersonated athlete agent, Don Yee in an insensitive and ill-conceived attempt at humor. We regret Christian’s commentary and we apologize to Mr. Yee and those offended by the segment.
— WEEI (@WEEI) February 10, 2018
We do not support or condone Christian’s comments, and we have suspended him for five days effective immediately.
— WEEI (@WEEI) February 10, 2018
It should be noted that the five days start Saturday and Fauria doesn’t usually work on weekends, meaning that the suspension is actually only three days.
For his part, Fauria also tweeted an apology Friday night.
Earlier today I made a horrible attempt at humor. In a segment during the show, I impersonated agent Don Yee in an insensitive and regrettable way. I want to publicly apologize to Don and anyone in the audience who heard it.
— christian fauria (@christianfauria) February 10, 2018
I have also reached out to Don directly to personally apologize. I have been disciplined by WEEI management and I fully support their decision.
— christian fauria (@christianfauria) February 10, 2018
This is the latest example of a Boston radio host being wildly inappropriate.
Last November, WBZ-FM suspended host Michael Felger for saying that Roy Halladay “got what he deserved” in his fatal plane crash.
In late January, WEEI’s Alex Reimer was suspended for saying on the air that Brady’s 5-year-old daughter was an “annoying little pissant” in the first episode of the quarterback’s Facebook documentary series, “Tom vs. Time.”
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