A Boston sports radio station is facing calls to fire one of its hosts after he made a slur Wednesday against listeners deemed racially insensitive.
While complaining about the Gen-Z population on his show “Felger & Mazz,” sports radio host Tony “Mazz” Massarotti stirred up controversy live on air.
In a social media clip, Massarotti and his co-host Dave Felger were talking about the MLB Postseason — when he started complaining about Gen-Z, saying, “By the way, I noticed that the ‘Z’ stands for ‘Zipper’.”
Zipperhead is a racial slur commonly used by U.S. military personnel to discriminate against Asian people during the Korean and Vietnam Wars.
It is not clear what the context was that led to the comment. DailyMail.com has contacted 98.5 The Sports Hub for comment.
Boston sports radio host Tony Massarotti used racial slurs during Wednesday’s broadcast
In the immediate aftermath of the clip’s posting, people began calling for Massarotti’s resignation.
“How does he still have a job?” wrote a user on X, formerly Twitter. Another said: ‘Maz with his annual racist incident on air. How these two are still used on TV and radio is beyond me.’
Barstool Sports host Jeff D. Lowe tweeted, “He was dying for this one,” then added, “I fully expected some kind of nasty/lame dig at the Red Sox given the thumbnail. That was an M. Night [Shyamalan] like twist.’
Others were unaware of the phrase – or its background – and thought Massarotti might not have known what he was saying.
“In fairness to Tony, I didn’t actually know Zipperh**d was a racial slur,” one user wrote.
Another said: ‘I’d never heard that term before. Apparently it was used prominently in “Gran Torino”, which I saw when it came out but couldn’t remember. It took me three seconds to look it up and find out that it was indeed a slur. I wouldn’t be surprised if Mazz didn’t know either, given the context, but also given past discretion, no one upset about it is going to give him the benefit of the doubt.”
In February 2023, Massarotti (L) made comments about black people that were considered racially insensitive
Massarotti, 56, got into trouble last year for similar racially insensitive comments that led to his suspension from the airwaves.
In February 2023, Massarotti was addressing cohost Michael Felger, who was working remotely, when the former referred to two African-American men sitting in the background.
“Now I want to know who the two guys behind you are,” Massarotti asked Felger, who he said was co-hosting the show from a hotel in New Orleans. WCVB.
“They can’t hear us, right? Okay, so I’d be careful if I were you. Because the last time you were around guys like that, they stole your car.”
He later clarified that he just wanted to “make fun” of Felger, who reportedly had his car stolen in New Orleans in the fall.
The local media personality also admitted that he took his joke too far and that it “hurts the cause” of those advocating for racial and social equality.
“Late on Friday in the show, I made some comments that made some people angry and upset, and rightly so,” Massarotti said at the time. ‘I wish I could take them back. I can’t.
“So I owe everyone an apology. It’s not who I am. It’s not who we are. I can tell you that until I’m blue in the face, those of you who know me will believe it.”
