WEEI host appears to use ethnic slur involving Mina Kimes

April 2024 · 2 minute read

A sports talk radio host on WEEI in Boston is in hot water after appearing to invoke a racial slur about ESPN personality Mina Kimes.

In a conversation on the “Greg Hill Show” about their five favorite nips — show personality Courtney Cox suggested the prompt with Boston City Councilor Ricardo Arroyo seeking to outlaw the small bottles of alcohol in the city because of how frequently they’re littered — Chris Curtis interjected, “Mina Kimes.”

Nip is an ethnic slur against Japanese people, referring to a shortened version of Nippon, which is the Japanese name for the country.

Kimes is half-Korean, not Japanese.

None of Hill, Cox, or co-host Jermaine Wiggins responded to Curtis, an executive producer for the show.

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe reported that the station did not respond to comment but wrote on Twitter that “corporate claims he meant Mila Kunis, not Mina Kimes.”

ESPN responded to the incident, telling the Globe, “There is no place for these type of hateful comments, which were uncalled for and extremely offensive.”

WEEI is owned by Audacy, the same parent company as WFAN.

Kimes responded to Finn’s tweet with a meme from “The Simpsons” of Bart’s eyes glazed over and changed her avatar on Twitter to a picture of Kunis, an actress.

The clip of Curtis saying Kimes’ name went viral on Wednesday when it was shared by Dave Cullinane, the producer for Kirk Minihane, a Barstool Sports podcast host who previously co-hosted morning drive on WEEI.

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