The good news is that all of the proceeds from a recent roast of David Ortiz went to Big Papi’s charity for children. But that’s where the good news ends. The bad news is that Rob Gronkowski and others made such horribly racist, sexist, and anti-Semitic jokes that NESN was forced to cancel its broadcast of the show, according to the Boston Globe.
Rob Gronkowski and others ruined roast of David Ortiz with racist jokes
It could have been a fun, lighthearted event to benefit Ortiz’s charity. It was not.
Boston.com
Jeanna Kelley has been covering the Falcons for The Falcoholic since 2011 and the NFL for SB Nation since 2015.
Gronkowski’s contributions to the roast were painfully cruel, based on video obtained by Boston.com. He directed a racist taunt at actor Anthony Mackie, who plays Falcon in Marvel’s Captain America and Avengers films.
He didn’t stop there. That was followed by an anti-Semitic comment and sexist jokes about promiscuity and incest directed at comedian Sarah Tiana.
Tiana was a target of Gronkowski’s, but she also threw out a racist barb about the Orioles’ Adam Jones, according to the Boston Globe. Jones was called a racial slur repeatedly at Fenway Park this season.
Other comedians participating in the roast added off-color jokes, including one about the suicide of former Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez.
Comedian Josh Wolf, who hosted the roast, called the backlash about the tone of the jokes “ridiculous.”
“The only reason Rob’s name is being put in this is because he’s Rob Gronkowski,” Wolf said, via WEEI. “Compared to the rest of us, he was tame. But you know, TMZ doesn’t get any clicks if they say, ‘Josh Wolf went over the line.’ It’s all about clicks. He did what we asked him to do.”
The backlash is not ridiculous. It’s appropriate. NESN made the right call to pull the broadcast.
Boston has a history of and a reputation for racism. This controversy doesn’t help.
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