A radio host has been suspended after appearing to use the racist word “nip” in referring to ESPN host Mina Kimes.
The on-air staff of The Greg Hill Show on Boston’s WEEI engaged in a discussion of their five favorite nips in response to a proposal to ban small bottles of alcohol due to a litter problem in Boston.
The staff was rattling off some of their favorites when Chris Curtis blurted out “Mina Kimes.” His co-hosts ignored Curtis’ remark and continued discussing alcohol.
Nip is a racist term used against Japanese Americans. Kimes mother is Korean and her father is a U.S. Navy veteran.
WEEI is owned by Audacy which denied to the The Boston Globe that Curtis said “Mina Kimes,” and said instead that he said actress “Mila Kunis.”
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You can listen to the clip yourself in the Tweet below and decide for yourself.
ESPN called Curtis’ comments “uncalled for and extremely offensive,” saying to USA Today, “there is no place for these types of hateful comments.”
Kimes responded by changing her profile picture to that of Mila Kunis and using an eye roll meme of Bart Simpson.
Community pressure forced Curtis to apologize and Audacy to suspend him until Wednesday.
“In a pathetic failed attempt at a one-liner, I attempted to bring up Mila Kunis, which was not really that funny, sophomoric and sexist,” Curtis said on The Greg Hill Show. “But for reasons I really don’t understand, I said Mina Kimes. That was never the intention for me to say her name. It had nothing to do with the subject matter, and it dragged her into a controversy through no fault of her own regarding a slur and her race and that was not at all what my intention was, but it doesn’t matter because of the absolute chaos my words created for someone who’s just doing her job covering the NFL at ESPN,” Curtis said in a statement.
“So I want to apologize to Mina Kimes, I want to apologize for the stupid, lame attempt at a joke. It was something that there’s just really no other way to put it … it was dumb and it was silly.
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