Not everybody feels bad about what happened to Mina Kimes this week.
Boston sports radio host Chris Curtis found himself in hot water this week after his remarks during Wednesday morning’s broadcast of “The Greg Hill Show” on WEEI, in which the hosts were discussing the proposed ban on miniature bottles of alcohol in Boston.
The hosts were asked about their preference for “nips.” Curtis chimed in with, “Oh, I’d probably go Mina Kimes,” evoking a World War II-era term used to describe people of Japanese descent.
“Nips” is a derogatory slur.
Mina Kimes is a reporter for ESPN who focuses on the NFL. She is of Korean descent.
Jason Whitlock did not think the backlash was warranted because it did not actually affect Kimes, and he explained why.
“Raise your hand if you knew “Nip” was an ethnic slur? I did not. Tell me how Mina Kimes’ life was impacted by this? Other than nailing herself to a cross, I don’t see the damage. She will dance to rap music calling black people N-words repeatedly without uttering a complaint.”
Click on ‘Follow Us’ and get notified of the most viral NFL stories via Google! Follow Us
Kimes responded to Whitlock’s tweet.
“Nailing myself to a cross? I made one joke and went back to work…because unlike you, I still talk about sports for a living,” Kimes replied. “Have a great day.”
Whitlock did not back down.
“There’s no place for these type of hateful comments, which were uncalled for and extremely offensive,” ESPN said in a statement.
Later in the day, a spokesperson from Audacy, WEEI’s parent company, told Chad Finn of The Boston Globe that Curtis intended to say the name of actress Mila Kunis, not Kimes. Basically, they were implying that the joke was meant to invoke sexism instead of racism.
Kimes has not yet commented publicly on the incident but did change her Twitter profile to a picture of Kunis.
