Sports radio host Michael Sorce, who goes by the name Dan Geronimo on air, was fired by WBIG-FM on Sunday following sexist remarks he made toward a female reporter at Washington Commanders training camp.
While speaking with co-host Crash Young, Geronimo made several offensive comments about WUSA9 Washington D.C. reporter Sharla McBride, including shouting, “Hi, Barbie girl” as she walked past him.
iHeartMedia is the parent company of WBIG-FM, which signed a three-year partnership with the Commanders in 2022.
“After an internal review, Don Geronimo is no longer an employee of WBIG,” iHeartMedia’s D.C. Region president Aaron Hyland said in a statement to the Washington Post. “We take matters of this nature very seriously and this behavior does not align with our core values.”
In addition to the “Barbie” comment, Geronimo yelled, “I thought she was a cheerleader” at McBride.
He continued later in the broadcast when he spotted McBride again, saying to Young: “Oh, hey, there’s that chick that you thought said tight.”
It’s unclear what “tight” was in reference to.
The Commanders barred Geronimo and Young from training camp Friday while investigating the incident, and prohibited the station from airing a previously recorded interview with new owner Josh Harris.
It’s not clear if Young was reprimanded as well.
“When I heard the comments made about me on the radio show, I felt incredibly insulted and embarrassed,” McBride told ESPN in a statement. “In my 17 years as a professional journalist, I have never been disrespected in such a blatant manner while trying to do my job. Their words were sexist and misogynistic. No woman should experience this in the workplace, and I appreciate the Commanders swift response in handling this matter.”
The Commanders were exposed for having a culture of sexism and misogyny under previous owner Dan Snyder, who sold the team to an ownership group led by Harris earlier in July.
“We have worked hard to ensure that everyone feels safe and respected in our workplace, and we took swift action when we learned that an employee of our partner iHeart made sexually disparaging remarks to and about a member of the media while she was broadcasting live from training camp yesterday,” the team told WUSA9 in a statement Friday.
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