Boston Radio: WEEI's Chris Curtis Suspended For Slur

UPDATE 11:30 AM:  Chris Curtis, the WEEI on-air personality and producer who used an ethnic slur during Tuesday’s “The Greg Hill Show,’’ has been suspended without pay by the station until next Wednesday.

Curtis was on Thursday’s show at the start of its opening 6 a.m. hour and offered a meandering apology before leaving to begin his suspension.

Earlier Story...

Chris Curtis, an executive producer and on-air personality on WEEI’s “Greg Hill Show,” used a racist slur during Wednesday’s program while the hosts were discussing the possibility of a ban on “nips” — miniature bottles of alcohol — in Boston.

Chris Curtis

During a segment about Boston City Councilor Ricardo Arroyo’s plan to present a proposal to outlaw the small bottles, which often end up as litter, cohost Courtney Cox suggested that the show’s participants rank their favorite nips, according to The Boston Globe.

“Oh yes, that’s a great [topic],” said Hill, as he and Cox immediately mentioned a couple of brands of liquor.

As they were talking, Curtis interjected, “Oh, I’d probably go Mina Kimes.”

“Nip” is a racial slur against people of Japenese descent. The term is a shortened form of Nippon, the Japenese word for the country.

Kimes is a high-profile ESPN personality and NFL analyst who is of Korean descent on her mother’s side.

Hill, Cox, and cohost Jermaine Wiggins did not respond to Curtis and continued with the conversation. After his comment, Curtis glanced at producer Chris Scheim, who was laughing.

Mina Kimes

ESPN released a statement saying, “There is no place for these type of hateful comments, which were uncalled for and extremely offensive.”

A spokesperson at Audacy, WEEI’s parent company, said the company had no comment, but suggested — without elaboration — that Curtis meant to say the name of actress Mila Kunis rather than Kimes.

Curtis, who has been at WEEI since April 2013, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Nor did Mike Thomas, Audacy’s senior vice president and market manager in Boston, or WEEI operations manager Ken Laird.