ESPN’s Mina Kimes dunks on Boston sports talker after ‘hateful’ comments

ESPN called the Boston sports radio producer's comments "hateful" and "extremely offensive."

ESPN NFL analyst Mina Kimes found herself in the middle of the latest controversy involving a Boston sports talk radio host.Read moreESPN Images

Updated Mar. 23, 2023, 9:56 a.m. ET

Published Mar. 23, 2023, 9:34 a.m. ET

And people think Philadelphia sports talk hosts can be rough.

Up in Boston, Chris Curtis — a producer and on-air personality for 94.1 WIP sister station WEEI — announced Thursday he has been suspended until next week after using a slur against Japanese people to describe ESPN host and NFL analyst Mina Kimes, who is not Japanese.

Kimes was born in Nebraska and her mother’s family is from South Korea.

Curtis, who apologized on Thursday’s show, also made the bizarre claim that he didn’t even intend to mention Kimes on-air. Instead, he meant to say actress Mila Kunis, who was born in the former Soviet Union in what is now Ukraine.

“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. “But for reasons I don’t understand, I said Mina Kimes.”

Kimes hasn’t commented publicly on the incident, but dunked on Curtis’s explanation by changing her Twitter profile picture to Kunis.

ESPN issued a statement, saying, “There is no place for these type of hateful comments, which were uncalled for and extremely offensive.”

An Audacy spokesperson said the company had nothing to add to Curtis’ on-air apology.

WEEI personalities have a history of controversial and inflammatory comments. In 2018, the entire station was attended an all-day sensitivity training after host and ex-New England Patriots tight end Christian Fauria impersonated the voice of Don Yee, Tom Brady’s longtime agent, by employing Asian stereotypes. Several large advertisers, including Comcast and Citizens Bank, pulled their ads.

In 2017, 98.5 The Sports Hub (which is owned by 97.5 The Fanatic parent company Beasley Media Group) host Michael Felger called former Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay an “idiot” and a “moron” following Halladay’s death in a plane crash in the Gulf of Mexico. And in 2014, popular WEEI morning host Kirk Minihane was suspended for five days after unleashing a misogynistic rant about Fox Sports reporter Erin Andrews.