On Saturday, long-time Washington, D.C. radio host Don Geronimo (whose real name is Michael Sorce) was fired by WBIG 100 and parent company iHeartMedia. That firing was following comments Geronimo made on-air from the Washington Commanders’ training camp Thursday, with those comments including “Hi, Barbie girl” and “I’m guessing she’s a cheerleader” about WUSA (the local CBS affiliate) reporter Sharla McBride.
The Commanders (who have WBIG 100 as their official radio partner) then barred Geronimo and co-host/producer Crash Young from camp, citing Geronimo’s “sexually disparaging remarks.” And iHeart then fired him following an external review. At that time, Geronimo offered no apology or comment, and said he was “consulting with my advisors”:
At this time I will not be providing comment on the events of the last few days. I am consulting with my advisors as to my options moving forward, including an accurate reflection of the situation. Thx -d.
— DonGeronimoShow (@DonGeronimoShow) July 30, 2023
On Wednesday, Geronimo did release a statement on that firing. There, he offered an apology for his comments, saying “I used inappropriate words in a way that hurt someone.” But he disputed that some of the “tight” discussion cited in media reports on this had anything to do with McBride. Here’s his statement in full:
Last week, during my live radio show from the Commanders training camp, I used inappropriate words in a way that hurt someone. I deeply and sincerely apologize for the pain I caused WUSA sports reporter Sharla McBride.
As has been reported, I insensitively used the terms “Barbie,” “Barbie girl,” and “chick” when talking about Ms. McBride, a fellow broadcaster who I did not know or recognize, when she walked by our broadcast position. My attempts to be humorous and topical backfired, and I needlessly deprecated a professional colleague.
I want to correct one inaccurate aspect of some media reports. Contrary to those reports, neither I nor my producer used the word “tight” to describe Ms. McBride. Rather, my producer used the word “tight” – a common term in the broadcast world that refers to seamless production – to describe a technical aspect of our show that day. The timing of it was unfortunately misconstrued in some reports as part of my reference to Ms. McBride.
I have reached out to Ms. McBride to apologize. When she feels ready, I hope that we can have a conversation and that I will have the opportunity to reiterate my apology to her in person.
I hope that Ms. McBride and the listeners who heard me will forgive me. I am better than this, and I promise to demonstrate that going forward.
That discussion of “tight” doesn’t really seem to fit with how that exchange was transcribed by WUSA’s Adam Longo, though:
Later in the broadcast, Geronimo again spotted McBride as she was conducting interviews.
“Oh hey. There’s that chick that you thought .. said tight,” said Geronimo.
“Yah. I screamed tight when she was ..” said Crash before being interrupted.
“I think. I think she’s a sportscaster at Channel 9. Or Channel 7,” said Geronimo.
“Yeah, She’s familiar,” replied Crash.
“I thought she was a cheerleader,” said Geronimo.
At any rate, Geronimo has now commented on his firing publicly. But he’s done that several days later, and after national attention for and criticism of him over both this incident and his past behavior. We’ll see if anything further comes from this.
