Rochester Radio: WHAM's Boomer Bob Riles Up Twitterverse

WHAM 1180 AM host Bob Lonsberry is getting ridiculed online after comparing the word “boomer” to the N-word, reports syracuse.com.

“'Boomer' is the n-word of ageism. Being hip and flip does not make bigotry ok, nor is a derisive epithet acceptable because it is new,” Lonsberry wrote on now-deleted Twitter Monday morning.

Lonsberry, 60, is part of the generation known as “Baby Boomers," born between 1946 and 1964. It’s unclear what prompted Lonsberry’s tweet, but The New York Times recently detailed how millenials and Generation Z have started using the phrase “OK boomer” as a flippant response to older generations whose actions, politically, socially and environmentally, have impacted today’s teens and young adults.

The phrase “OK boomer," popularized on video streaming app TikTok, has become a meme, a line of merchandise and a quick way to mock Boomers over issues like rising inequality, climate change, increasing college tuition costs and divisive politics.

The N-word, on the other hand, is a euphemism for a racial slur against African-Americans.

Lonsberry, also heard NewsRadio WSYR 570 in Syracuse, quickly discovered that the internet was well aware of the difference between the two words. His tweet went viral, drawing over 1,000 “likes” and more than ten times as many responses -- mostly negative -- as “Boomer” became a trending topic on Twitter with over 165,000 tweets.

“Saying your generation’s official name is the equivalent of the most heinous racial slur in America is some real Boomer s--t,” one Twitter user wrote.

Others simply responded with “Ok, boomer.” Some started calling Lonsberry “Boomer Bob,” similar to other nicknames for people who’ve reached online infamy like “Permit Patty” and “Coupon Carl," or “Bob the Boomer” as a play on the animated children’s show “Bob the Builder.”

According to The Washington Post,  Lonsberry has worked for more than three decades as a reporter, columnist and commentator. He is no stranger to bombastic takes, and some have cited a racist early-2000s incident in which he was fired from WHAM radio after alluding to William A. Johnson Jr., the former black mayor of Rochester, N.Y., as a monkey. He was later rehired.