 Ronn Torossian |
Popular Sirius XM sports host Patrick Connor is now unemployed after comments he made about Olympic gold medalist Chloe Kim during a broadcast that have since been called “sexually inappropriate.”
Connor was speaking about the 17-year-old snowboarder during the “Dialed-In with Dallas Braden” program, when he said: “(Kim’s) 18th birthday is April 23, and the countdown is on, baby … That’s what I like about them high school girls …” Later, Connor said, “She’s fine … If she was 18, you wouldn’t be ashamed to say that she’s a little hot piece … And she is. She is adorable. I’m a huge Chloe Kim fan …”
Connor was subsequently let go from his gig at KNBR in San Francisco, where he worked as a host. The announcement has since ushered in another wave of discussion about what is and is not tolerable speech in today’s social climate. Clearly, Connor’s radio co-hosts thought his comments were okay, as they can be heard laughing in the background as he made his remarks. However, fans on social media didn’t find it funny. And, the day after the incident, Braden, who hosts the Sirius XM show, had some things to say as well:
 Patrick Connor |
“We’ve all talked … It is nothing to make light of … We understand the severity of it … This is not me asking. This is not a suggestion-based forum. This is a one-way conversation. You will clean it up or day three will be the last day here. This is not how we do (things).”
Connor subsequently apologized: “I just want to quickly address my behavior yesterday … I’m super embarrassed. If I were to just slice up the pie chart of my comments they were, one slice was dumb, another slice was super insensitive and disrespectful. Kinda needy … And I’ve taken a pretty good beating, and I deserve it. Don’t feel sorry for me.”
Will that apology be enough to get him his other radio job back? Not yet, it seems. And now Connor’s firing has become yet another teachable moment in the conversation about how men discuss women in public.
Regardless of how things “used to be done” or how people feel about the topic, the plain fact is this: if you are disrespectful, you’ll be called on it sooner or later, it may well go public, and you’ll find yourself in a perpetually deepening hole. That’s the new normal, and it doesn’t appear to be changing anytime soon. Something everyone in the public eye should consider.
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Ronn Torossian is CEO of 5WPR, one of America’s leading privately owned PR Agencies.
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