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Boston-based radio host Chris Curtis was slammed online for using a racial slur to describe ESPN sports journalist Mina Kimes on Wednesday, March 22, 2023.
During the episode of WEEI's The Greg Hill Show, Curtis and his co-hosts, Greg Hill, Jermaine Wiggins, and Courtney Cox discussed the "top five nips." The discussion came about as the Boston City Council plans on possibly banning small liquor bottles because they are often littered and are too tiny to be recycled.
While the other hosts stated names like Fireball, Skrewball, and Dr. McGillicuddy's, Chris Curtis suddenly cut in and as he smiled, he said:
"I'd probably go Mina Kimes."
The other hosts continued with their discussion and didn't seem to focus much on what Curtis had said.
'Nip' is a racial slur used against Japanese people
While the conversation between the show hosts was about the small liquor bottles, which are also known as nips, to netizens, it seemed like the way Curtis used it was as a racial slur.
According to Dictionary.com, Nip is a highly disparaging and offensive slang used to describe a Japanese person. It is a short term for Nippon, which is the Japanese name used to refer to the country.
Needless to say, after Curtis' comment on the ESPN journalist went viral, netizens were left furious. They took to Twitter to slam Curtis for his poor choice of words, and called him a "racist". Others wondered how he was still employed by the radio channel and asked him to apologize to the journalist immediately.
Some people even pointed out that the 37-year-old ESPN journalist wasn't Japanese but of Korean descent and a native of Omaha, Nebraska.
Chris Curtis was trying to refer to Mila Kunis instead of Mina Kimes
In a statement issued to USA Today Sports, ESPN addressed Chris Curtis' comments and stated that they were "uncalled for and extremely offensive." The cable company added that "there is no place for these types of hateful comments."
While speaking to The Boston Globe, WEEI's parent company. Audacy, stated that Chris was trying to refer to actress Mila Kunis instead of Mina. This led the latter to change her Twitter profile picture to that of the actress.
However, as of writing this article, no explanation as to why Chris brought Kunis in conversation was given.
Chris Curtis is a graduate of Boston College
According to audacy.com, Chris Curtis has worked in sports broadcasting in Boston since 2002. He interned for Ted Sarandis, Eddie Andelman, Ryen Russilo, and Michael Felger, among others.
Curtis began working for ESPN in 2006 and started working for ESPN Radio in Bristol in 2008. A year later, he created The D.A. Show with Damon Amendolara. Chris, who received his bachelor's degree from Boston College, was appointed as the director of Dennis & Callahan in April 2013.
As of writing, Chris has not issued any statement regarding the racial slur controversy.
