Stephen “Steak” Shapiro, Nick Cellino, and Chris Dimino were the hosts of the “Mayhem in the AM” radio broadcast on Sports Radio AM 790 “The Zone”. By “were” we mean that they hosted the show until Monday. You see, these three brainiacs decided that making fun of former New Orleans Saints player Steve Gleason was a good idea. Gleason was forced to retire from the NFL after contracting ALS, commonly known as Lou Gerhig’s disease.
The station has released the following statement on their website:
“We deeply regret the offensive programming that aired this morning on ‘Mayhem In The AM’ on 790 The Zone, related to former New Orleans Saints player Steve Gleason and his battle with ALS. We suspended the three individuals involved immediately following their comments and have since terminated their employment. 790 The Zone, our owners, sponsors and partners in no way endorse or support this kind of content. We sincerely apologize to Mr. Gleason, his family and all those touched by ALS.”
For those extremely curious the segment, can be heard here. We don’t recommend listening, its 5 minutes of your life that you will never get back. It’s not funny in any way, shape or form.
The Zone is the Atlanta Falcons flagship radio station and so the team has also made a statement here:
“The Falcons are disappointed in the comments made about former Saints player Steve Gleason on a local Atlanta radio station Monday morning,” the team’s statement said. “The content concerning Mr. Gleason was completely inappropriate and is not representative of the views of the Falcons organization, nor does it represent the way we conduct our business on and off the field. To single out Steve the way he was this morning is totally lacking in taste and discretion.”
In our opinion, AM 790 has made the right call here. There is nothing remotely funny of making fun of people with disabilities; and nothing remotely funny about making fun of someone with ALS. Congrats to them for making the tough decision to axe the members of their radio station who thought this bit was a good idea.
Gleason is best remembered for blocking a punt against the Falcons in the Saints first game back in the Superdome after the events of Hurricane Katrina. His moment is iconic in its ability to transcend sports, and give a rebuilding team hope. There is a statue of the event outside of the Superdome today.
Today, Gleason continues to stand as a symbol to the people of New Orleans, and to ALS sufferers everywhere with his courageous fight against this terrible disease.
To the three disgraced radio show hosts, we say “shame on you”. It really shouldn’t have gotten this far. You are grown adults who should know better than to make terrible jokes about a debilitating disease. Good luck in finding another radio job.
Look, we get it, the Saints and Falcons are big rivals and you want to poke fun at New Orleans every chance you can get. We understand that, but there are much, much better ways to make fun of the ‘Aints than by taking jabs at Steve Gleason. I mean “bounty gate” anyone? The lights going out in the Superbowl? Drew Brees’ dorky face? Rob Ryan? The jokes there should be endless. Use some creativity guys.
… And that’s the Last Word.
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