Michael Felger’s insensitive rant Wednesday about Roy Halladay one day after he died in a plane crash is the latest lowlight in Boston sports talk radio.
Felger was back on 98.5 FM The Sports Hub on Thursday, and apologized for his rant. There was no mention of a suspension or any other type of discipline.
“In a nutshell, I feel bad about what I said and how I conducted myself,” Felger said. “To say it was over the top and insensitive is really stating the obvious. It was obviously those things.”
Speaking of Halladay’s family, Felger said: “Sorry doesn’t do justice for them. That one is going to stick with me for a while.”
Felger said some of what was in his rant he still believes, but some of it was “dumb hyperbole.” He said the comment about Halladay getting what he deserved was actually meant to be in reference to himself had he done something similar.
“I regret my conduct yesterday,” Felger said about comments.
His co-host, Tony Massarotti, said his only regret was not stopping Felger in the middle and trying to “rein him in.”
Not to be outdone, one of Felger’s chief rivals seized on an opportunity in the race to the bottom for the city’s sports shock jocks. Kirk Minihane, of WEEI’s “Kirk and Callahan” show, decided to stage a “protest” in front of the office of Felger’s employer earlier in the day Thursday.
Screaming “Justice!” repeatedly and toting a sign that read “Fire Felger” and “#JusticeForDoc,” Minihane managed to pack in a platter of mockery during a 25-minute Facebook Live video.
“Shame on you people,” he yelled at the windows of the building, which eventually elicited a police response. “Justice. Justice. Fire this man. I want this man fired.”
After mocking the Twitter hashtag #Justicefor, which has been often used by the Black Lives Matter movement when young black men like Tamir Rice and Trayvon Martin were killed, Minihane decided to take on the recent avalanche of sexual assault and sexual harassment accusations that victims have been willing to come forward about, all while exploiting Felger’s horrid Halladay comments.
One of Felger’s co-workers came outside to try to plug a different show by talking into Felger’s phone. Felger accused the man of harassment and mocked another social-justice hashtag, #metoo.
“Don’t touch me,” Minihane wailed. “We have that on camera, right? I’m going to report this man. Me too! Me too! Me too! Me too! You’re worse than Kevin Spacey.”
The WEEI show, which has been on the air for two decades in different iterations — it was originally the “Dennis and Callahan” show — has also been embroiled in plenty of scandals. The hosts have been accused of making racist, sexist and homophobic comments.
This isn’t Felger’s first controversy, of course. He’s been criticized for making heart surgery jokes about former Celtics forward Jeff Green and for calling current Boston star Al Horford soft for missing a November game to be with his wife after she gave birth last November, among other issues.