*A producer and two other employees at Philadelphia sports radio station 97.5 The Fanatic were suspended for three days after they were discovered to have created a racially charged phony Black male caller.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that Pat Egan, program director Matt Nahigian and on-air personality Jason Myrtetus created a black character named “Dwayne from Swedesboro,” who was voiced by Egan, and offended many listeners of a show hosted by radio host Mike Missanelli, who co-hosts with Myrtetus.
The Inquirer confirmed that the fake caller had been calling into Missanelli’s show and other shows for more than a year. The character had a Twitter account, (which has been deleted), that further perpetuated stereotypes. Egan’s radio gag was exposed by savvy Internet sleuths on the website crossingbroad.com, who matched the photo on the Twitter account to the photo of a Black man on Egan’s Facebook page.
Egan admitted that he created the racist character and that Missanelli was never in on the character, saying it was a “big inside joke.”
“I picked the EXACT opposite of me. A tall black guy who drives a Vespa, lives in jersey, & gets women. Thats it,” Egan said.
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Myrtetus reportedly also knew that the character was phony, but didn’t think it was a big deal. Missanelli acknowledged that he did not know “Dwayne from Swedesboro” wasn’t a real person.
“I would not have authorized a racially charged caller like that,” Missanelli told the Inquirer. “If I had known it was a fake, I would have shut down this immediately because I was sensitive to the racial undertones involved.”
So far, Egan has issued no apology. He, Nahigian and Myrtetus are scheduled to return to work on Wednesday. Nahigian is also scheduled to meet with Philadelphia Black Lives Matter representatives, but it is unclear exactly where or when…or even why.
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