A Boston radio host apologized and was suspended for making a reference to an ethnic slur during an on-air segment as he and the other broadcasters were talking about "nips" – or small bottles of alcohol.
Chris Curtis, a WEEI host since 2013, and his co-hosts, Greg Hill and Courtney Cox, were discussing Boston City Councilor Ricardo Arroyo's plan to formally present a proposal to outlaw nips. Cox then said the trio should discuss their "top five nips," in which she mentioned several alcoholic brands.
Curtis replied, "I'd probably go [ESPN NFL analyst] Mina Kimes."
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The term is also a racial slur against the Japanese (shortened from Nippon) that gained prominence during World War II.
WEEI Radio initially said in a statement to the Boston Globe that Curtis really meant Mila Kunis, who is Ukrainian-Jewish. The uproar led to further punishment Thursday.
"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," Curt said. "But for reasons I don't understand, I said Mina Kimes. That was never the intention for me to say her name. It had nothing to do with the subject matter and it dragged her into a controversy through no fault of her own regarding a slur and her race and that was not at all what my intention was, but it doesn't matter because of the absolute chaos my words created for someone who's just doing her job covering the NFL at ESPN. So I want to apologize to Mina Kimes, I want to apologize for a stupid, lame attempt at a joke, something that there's just really no other way to put it... it was dumb and it was silly."
Curtis said he was also suspended from the show for a week.
Kimes made light of the ordeal by changing her Twitter profile picture to Kunis.
"There is no place for these type of hateful comments, which were uncalled for and extremely offensive," ESPN said in a statement.
Fox News’ Ryan Morik contributed to this report.
