After the Red Sox supported Torii Hunter for discussing the racial abuse he and other Black players have received at Fenway Park, Michael Wilbon commended the team for acknowledging the issue.
During Thursday’s Pardon The Interruption, Wilbon noted the race issue has nothing to do with the Red Sox, it has to do with Boston and he hopes the city can step up and “own it” the way their baseball team did.
“This has to do with Boston. The only times I’ve been called the N-word to my face in public have been in Boston Garden.” Wilbon said “Too often in Boston, no one owned it. That’s what the Red Sox did, that’s a first, or almost a first, in terms of systematic ownership.”
“The anger isn’t that Boston is the same as it was in 1980 or 1960,” Wilbon said. “But they didn’t own it and too often now, they, the fans, the residents, New England, they don’t own it.”
Wilbon also went on to explain why he no longer joins WEEI as a guest, “despite some hosts I love.”
“There’s too many times where I’m baited into something, and I wind up screaming at the hosts, and they don’t own it,” Wilbon said of WEEI.
The example Wilbon specifically was referring to took place on the station in Dec. 2017, when he was interviewed by their current midday hosts Dale Arnold and Rich Keefe. Michael Holley who’s no longer with the station was a co-host on the show at the time.
It came after former Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski was suspended for pile-driving his shoulder into Tre’Davious White’s head. On PTI, Tony Kornheiser presented the racial aspect of the NFL’s decision to suspend Gronk for just one game. WEEI’s Dale, Holley and Keefe invited Wilbon on their program to debate the involvement of race when the NFL handed down what was deemed a light penalty for Gronkowski.
“Racial politics come into everything,” Wilbon told the hosts. “And I’ve been on this radio station for a number of years and you’ve asked me the same question, I’m going to answer it the same way 25 years ago, today, and 25 years from now. Race factors into everything so I don’t want to hear anybody say I don’t see color because that’s a damn lie.”
After being pressed by Keefe during the interview, Wilbon asked why he was invited on to the show and not Kornheiser? “Your agenda is to bait me,” Wilbon said. “Your agenda is to press the black person that you object to for making that observation.”
Three and a half years later, the Red Sox acknowledged they have work to do in their admission of racist incidents occurring at Fenway Park, but Wilbon is calling for the entire city of Boston to “own it.”
It should be noted that Wilbon was a frequent guest on WEEI prior to 2017. A search of the station’s website shows he made at least six appearances on the radio station. He also called in to shows regularly throughout the 2000’s.