In an unprecedented move, WEEI—the flagship station of the Boston Red Sox—will suspend live programming Friday
to hold mandatory, all-day sensitivity training. There will be no live shows on the station from 6AM-6PM Friday. Several recent incidents by on-air personalities have led to suspensions and the loss of two key advertisers (
Comcast and the
City of Boston Credit Union). The most recent incident involved former New England Patriots tight-end
Christian Fauria—who used a stereotypical Asian accent to portray
Tom Brady's agent
Don Yee. The discussion by Fauria related to an
earlier incident where a WEEI caller 'punked' long-time sports columnist
Ron Borges into thinking that he was Yee. He convinced Borges to publish a completely bogus story in
The Boston Herald, claiming that Brady would sit-out team events until he got a comparable contract to
Jimmy Garoppolo's. Morning co-host
Kirk Minihane was recently reprimanded by station management—then took a "sick day" yesterday.
This morning Minihane mockingly delivered a 'vanilla' sports talk format—calling the show now the "worst" in Boston. All in all, it's been a bit of a mess at the station.
