Intentional walk or a strikeout?
WEEI’s Minihane off air after brushing back Sox brass
An astonishing coincidence has just taken place on Boston sports radio.
Button-pushing WEEI shock jock Kirk Minihane has disappeared from the airwaves after insulting the owners of his station’s multimillion-dollar partner, the Red Sox, on his morning-drive show Monday.
But yester day, Minihane’s bosses insisted that the sports yakker hasn’t been sanctioned and is instead taking some “personal time.” “Kirk is not suspended. He is taking personal time this week,” Esther-Mireya Tejeda, a spokeswoman for station owner Entercom, said in an email. Minihane, who declined to comment to the Herald, has a previously scheduled vacation next week that will keep him off the air until Aug. 7. On Monday’s show, Minihane went ballistic on the Red Sox organization, blasting everyone from owner John Henry to his wife, Linda Pizzuti Henry, to co-owner Tom Werner. Minihane’s scathing tirade came after a story appeared on DigBoston.com about the team’s — and WEEI’s — history of racial controversy. The piece mentioned Adam Jones, a Baltimore Orioles outfielder who said he was the target of racial slurs during a game at Fenway Park in May. What a p - pear ed to set Minihane off was the statement from Red Sox corporate spokeswoman Zineb Curran, which read, “None of the opinions or sentiments expressed on WEEI or any of the 57 radio affiliates throughout New England are those of the Boston Red Sox. We understand the frustration of those who feel the opinions expressed are offensive and out of line. At times, we feel the same way.”
That did not sit well with Minihane.
“There is an institutional arrogance from the Red Sox. It starts at the top and it bleeds all the way down to the bottom,” Minihane said on the Red Sox’ flagship airwaves. “All we did was say we don’t believe that Red Sox fans are inherently racist. The Red Sox disagree. Red Sox fans, your organization thinks you’re racist or, by and large, think many of you are racist.”
He continued, “The Red Sox are pandering and it starts with John Henry, with Linda Pizzuti, who’s another panderer, goes to Tom Werner and goes all the way down, slides all the way down, takes a stop at John Farrell.”
The Red Sox have remained tight-lipped about Minihane. Curran declined comment again yesterday. WEEI inked a seven-year deal last year to continue broadcasting the team’s games.
Minihane, whose show is back on top in the ratings, is no stranger to controversy.
He was suspended for a week three years ago after making vulgar comments about Fox Sports reporter Erin Andrews. At the time, Entercom CEO David Field announced Minihane’s suspension and called his comments “offensive and deplorable” — after Fox pulled its ads.
If you want to listen to Minihane’s on-air rant against the Red Sox, you’re out of luck. The audio was nowhere to be found on WEEI’s website yesterday.