video: I married a Chinese…
A disturbing bit of patter overheard this morning while listening to the news on our local Fox station. Mostly we just watch to see what the weather is like and if our metro commute will be impacted by anything. We normally ignore the sports report since it somehow manages to be both inane and banal, but some comments this morning about the recent World Cup win were just too much to let go.
The Sports Junkies are a regular feature on Fox’s morning news, and they often appear to be just what they are: 4 commentators well versed in reporting via hindsight–just like most sports news personalities. I’ve definitely heard comments that sounded off base, but hearing someone justify a racial remark or joke by immediately saying “I’m married to one!” really pushes my buttons.
[flv:fox_sj_jun18.flv 560 304]
The comments1 start at about 1m 25s:
I’m not giving Japan any credit, and let’s be clear here: I love Asians, I married a Chinese. I’m not happy for Japan. I told my wife last night she had to sleep on the couch last night because she was close enough.
In the background, you can hear non-committal chuckles of his peers and the two back at the news desk while it seems the rest of his crew wisely decide to quickly move the topic along.
It isn’t that they’re alone in making these kinds of comments. The online world seemed happy to let its competitive nature turn to hate causing “Pearl Harbor” to become a trending topic on twitter along with other hurtful words and comments.
Fox 5–or probably any morning news segment–makes their fair share of slip ups, usually as one newsreader tries to “happily” segue a story into the weather.2 But I wouldn’t be surprised if the Sports Junkies segment wasn’t aired again for the 6 o’clock hour, or if it is, hopefully they’ll downplay the USA loyalty comments and focus on the disappointing loss for the USA Women’s Team.
I’m about ready to put on music in the morning and just check weather and local news online, especially when there doesn’t seem to be a single producer there with sense enough to tell their on-air personalities to cool it. Early morning or not, there are still people watching! 🙄
1 I would have posted this, with closed captions on YouTube, but due to FIFA owning copyright on World Cup digital assets, they won’t host it. With respect to the content of this video, all trademarks and copyrights are property of their respective owners.†
2 One morning, they reported on the death of NFL star John Mackey, who died at age 69, then followed it up by addressing the weatherman with “But hey, 69 isn’t always a bad number, right? Especially for the temperature!”
† Please don’t sue me!
Ah, sports radio.
Where Frat Boys and Douchebags go to die.
My co-workers constantly tell me about ads or shows they heard in their car on the radio and I stare at them blankly, “Car?” … “Radio?”