‘Insensitive, hurtful’ comments slammed
Tony Massarotti apologizes; ‘I wish I could take them back’
Sports Hub talk show host Tony Massarotti has apologized for his “insensitive” and “hurtful” comments about Black people sitting behind his 98.5 co-host Mike Felger, warning Felger that they might steal his car.
Massarotti made the remark about the Black people behind Felger late in
Friday’s “Felger and Mazz” show. Massarotti has been facing heat on social media ever since, and he addressed his remarks at the start of Monday’s show.
“I made some comments that angered and upset some people, and rightfully so,” Massarotti said at the start of his apology. “I wish I could take them back. I can’t. They were insensitive, they were hurtful, and frankly they hurt the cause for those of us who believe in racial and social equality and all of those things. And I do, I’m on that side of the line.”
“I owe everyone an apology,” the Herald alum said. “It’s not who I am. It’s not who we are.”
Felger on Friday was broadcasting remotely from New Orleans, where his daughter attends college. The loud and animated talk show host was doing the show in a hotel business service center where people log onto computers, and two Black individuals were sitting behind Felger at the time.
“Yeah, I want to know now who the two guys behind you are, that’s what I want to know. Because if I were you …” Massarotti said, as Felger told the guys behind him that he’d be off the air in 2 minutes.
“… They can’t hear us, right?” Massarotti then asked Felger, who said the people couldn’t hear the hosts broadcasting from Waltham. “OK, so I would be careful if I were you because the last time you were around a couple of guys like that, they stole your car.”
As Massarotti started to crack up following his comment, Felger quickly moved on to the next caller.
During a previous trip to New Orleans, Felger had borrowed his parents’ car for a night out downtown. He had parked the car at a street corner to see if he could get into a show, but he left the keys in the car and a thief stole it.
“I meant — if anyone cares — to poke fun at you, Mike,” Massarotti said to Felger during Monday’s show. “It didn’t come off that way. It came off as something far broader and ignorant, and I’m regretful of that.”
Massarotti also apologized to his colleagues and the station.
“I sincerely apologize, and I will do my best to make sure it never happens again,” he said.
98.5 co-host Christopher Gasper, who is Black, criticized Massarotti for his “disappointing” comments.
“I just recently learned of Mazz’s racially-insensitive remarks on Friday,” Gasper, a Boston Globe columnist, tweeted. “I found them deeply disheartening and disappointing. I condemn them. There’s no place for ‘humor’ reinforcing harmful and hurtful stereotypes about Black males being criminals. I’ve expressed such directly.
“Felger & Mazz has a powerful platform here and reinforcing these negative stereotypes, even unwittingly and without malice, which I do believe was the case with Mazz, is dangerous,” he added. “It sends a signal to those who genuinely hold racial animus or prejudice that it’s acceptable. …
“That being said, I’ve known Mazz for over a decade,” Gasper wrote. “While he carelessly misspoke trying to tweak Felger about a car theft that actually happened to Felgie in New Orleans, he knows what he said is wrong. It was not his intent. It’s also not consistent with his character as a man… Folks make mistakes talking on air extemporaneously for 4 hours daily. I have. There’s a difference between consistently and intentionally expressing racist ideas on air and making an unfortunate remark. I know an in poor taste joke isn’t who Mazz is at all. He’s still a friend.”