Craig Carton of WFAN is not backing off in a war of words with ESPN’s Jeff Passan over the network’s bombastic report on sexual harassment by former Mets general manager Jared Porter to a foreign journalist.
Carton attacked Passan on Wednesday to open his afternoon shift, calling him a “weeping weasel”. Carton also said that ESPN didn’t care about the woman Porter harassed with 62 unanswered text messages, including a photo that allegedly showed his erect penis.
In addition, Carton called Passan a “little whiner -” before the start of his show and was called by midday host Maggie Gray to the term. He also criticized Passan on Twitter for his initial praise for Mets’ hiring of Porter and accused him of trying to take credit for co-author Mina Kimes’s report. Passan said he was not aware of Porter’s behavior at the time of his hiring.
“They called her. They brought her back to her worst nightmare, having to deal with the reality of her stalker, ”said Carton on the air. “We are not going to act like they care about the victim, because they don’t care.”
Porter sent messages to the woman in 2016 while working for the Cubs. ESPN, according to its report, became aware of Porter’s misconduct for the first time in 2017, but did not report on the woman’s request that he sexually harassed her. ESPN said it has since maintained “periodic” contact with the woman and that she decided to perform anonymously after Porter was hired by the Mets in December.
Carton and co-host Evan Roberts criticized the timing of the ESPN report, suggesting that the network remained in it until Porter was hired for a prominent position. Passan then countered this statement during an appearance with ESPN Radio’s Michael Kay, whom Carton and Roberts are admiring in the afternoon campaign audience war.
“There is another radio station in New York that has been very irresponsible today about covering this, and I hate to give them any spark because they don’t deserve it,” said Passan, via The New York Post. “The notion that ESPN has been around in this story since 2017 is the biggest giant irresponsible garbage load I’ve heard in a long time.”
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James Kratch can be contacted at [email protected].