Tony Massarotti did not intend to offend anyone, but he acknowledges that he did. He says he did not mean to play on stereotypes about Black men for a joke on Friday but understands that it came off that way. On Monday, he offered an apology.
Mike Felger was on a remote broadcast on Friday. On the NBC Sports Boston simulcast of Felger & Mazz, two Black men could be seen sitting behind Felger in the room he was in.
“Okay, so I would be careful if I were you,” Massarotti said. “Because the last time you were around a couple of guys like that, they stole your car.”
On Monday, Felger brought up the incident and acknowledged that plenty of people were upset with Massarotti. Massarotti insisted that it was a joke delivered inartfully and he did not intend to suggest that the men were dangerous simply because they were Black.
He also said that he does not expect everyone to believe that.
“I owe everyone an apology. It’s not who I am, it’s not who we are,” he said. “I can tell you that until I’m blue in the face. Those of you who know me will believe it. Those of you who don’t, won’t, and you probably shouldn’t. If I saw and heard what you did, I would feel the same way. And you have a right to be upset. The only thing I can really do is apologize for it. Again, when we’re talking about these sorts of issues, there is a line somewhere, and I can assure you I stand on the right side of it. But, again, that doesn’t excuse what I said or did on Friday.”
Tony Massarotti fought back tears insisting that he is “on the right side” when it comes to social and racial equality.
He added that he had intended the joke to be at Felger’s expense. He is sorry it did not sound that way and acknowledged that was because of what he said, not what the audience heard.
“All I can tell you is it’s not who I am. Got a little silly and stupid at the end of the show, trying to be a wise-ass like I often am. And, it just came out wrong. And I wish I could give you a better answer than that because we’re in a business where we should be careful about what we say and how we say it. And, I wasn’t.”
In addition to apologizing to the audience, he also apologized to his colleagues at 98.5 The Sports Hub for dragging them into the bad press.
