Gregg Giannotti lit off a firestorm of reaction following his opinion on Monday about New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns calling him a “loser.” The WFAN co-host on Boomer and Gio went off about how he feels Towns’ losing mentality leads to people having an opinion of him as a soft and losing basketball player.
What can be considered a typical rant following a playoff exit, former WFAN host Carl Banks took to social media to retort to the posted clip by WFAN. In response, Banks remarked how he felt the opinion of Giannotti’s was “pathetic” and that he should try to be a “better human instead of broadcasting this ignorant s**t.”
Shortly after, Giannotti responded to Banks’ comments with his own on social media last night, saying Banks still owes him 500 bucks from an appearance he did in 2010. Furthermore, the WFAN morning host continued with his retort of Banks’ comments on Tuesday morning.
“I wasn’t making it personal about Karl-Anthony Towns. He assumed I did, but then he made it personal about me,” said Giannotti. “The same way that Carl Banks feels about us, meaning talk show hosts who didn’t play (professional sports). How you guys can’t evaluate sports because you didn’t play, is the way I feel about Carl Banks when he starts chiming in on stuff like this. Leave this stuff up to us.”
Banks, a former WFAN contributor, resigned from the station in November of 2023 following a heated argument with WFAN’s midday show with Brandon Tierney and Sal Licata.
Moreover, Giannotti continued, “The way you don’t respect our opinions on sports. I don’t respect your opinions on media, because he’s not very good at it,” said Giannotti. “He doesn’t understand. His comprehension was terrible yesterday, and he spent years on this radio station putting people to sleep.”
Importantly, Giannotti insisted his comments were not directed at Towns personally; instead, they were more about his style and approach to the game of basketball. He did acknowledge that some took his comments at face value instead of looking into the full context.
“It’s like a chess checker situation here,” noted Giannotti. “This is what we’re supposed to do, we’re supposed to give opinions that you react to. Here’s when we stink, when no one’s talking about us, when no one’s paying attention to us. When the things that come out of my mouth don’t end up in the newspaper, that’s when WFAN stinks. So, everybody who thinks that this was a WFAN gone down the drain moment. No, this is WFAN, we’re still here. You still care. You still pay attention. You pay attention more than you want to, so go screw.”
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