Former NFL tight end Christian Fauria was suspended from his radio gig on WEEI in Boston for feigning an Asian accent to mock Don Yee, the agent of Tom Brady and Jimmy Garoppolo.
On the topic of Boston Herald columnist Ron Borges being duped by someone claiming to be Yee, Fauria role-played the agent.
“I’m gonna be Don Yee. For me, I don’t know why, Don Yee sounds like an Asian guy,” Fauria said on-air Friday, per the Boston Globe.
Then, in a “over-the-top Asian accent”, Fauria read text messages Borges received from a person pretending to be Yee that said Brady was demanding a new contract from the Patriots after Garoppolo, his former backup, signed a five-year, $137.5 million contract with the 49ers.
WEEI then played audio of the actual Yee speaking. He’s of Chinese descent but was born in California and does not have an Asian accent. After reading the phony texts in his normal voice, Fauria regressed back to mocking, insisting, “It’s more fun this way.”
Not to WEEI management, which announced Fauria has been disciplined.
“Earlier today during his show, Christian Fauria impersonated athlete agent, Don Yee in an insensitive and ill-conceived attempt at humor. We regret Christian’s commentary and we apologize to Mr. Yee and those offended by the segment,” the station said.
“We do not support or condone Christian’s comments, and we have suspended him for five days effective immediately.”
Fauria, who played for the Seahawks for seven seasons, the Patriots for four and the Redskins and Panthers for one each, expressed regret that's typical in situations like this.
“Earlier today I made a horrible attempt at humor. In a segment during the show, I impersonated agent Don Yee in an insensitive and regrettable way,” Fauria tweeted. “I want to publicly apologize to Don and anyone in the audience who heard it.
“I have also reached out to Don directly to personally apologize,” he continued. “I have been disciplined by WEEI management and I fully support their decision."
It’s been a tough couple of weeks for WEEI.
Friday’s incident follows Brady’s decision to forgo his weekly interview on the station because on-air personality Alex Reimer made fun of the quarterback’s five-year old daughter.
