Former Patriots tight end Christian Fauria was suspended from his radio job in Boston on Friday after he made a racist joke about Tom Brady's agent, Don Yee.
The drama that led to Fauria's suspension actually started Friday morning when Boston Herald columnist Ron Borges was duped into writing a false story about Brady. Using sources that turned out to be fake, Borges reported that Brady wanted a Jimmy Garoppolo-type deal and that the Patriots quarterback would hold out of OTAs if he didn't get it.
Of course, that's not the truth. The information came from someone claiming to be Yee -- not Yee himself -- and Borges's column has now been retracted by the Herald. The fake texts that were sent to Borges were revealed on Twitter on Friday, and that's when Fauria got in hot water.
Fauria decided to read the texts on-air, but with a twist, he decided to change his voice.
"I'm gonna be Don Yee," Fauria said before reading them. "For me, I don't know why, Don Yee sounds like an Asian guy."
Fauria then proceeded to attempt to speak in an Asian accent, which Yee does not have.
Shortly after the segment aired, WEEI made the decision to suspend Fauria for his racist impression.
"[On Friday] during his show, Christian Fauria impersonated athlete agent, Don Yee in an insensitive and ill-conceived attempt at humor," the station said in a statement. "We regret Christian's commentary and we apologize to Mr. Yee and those offended by the segment. We do not support or condone Christian's comments, and we have suspended him for five days effective immediately."
Fauria has since apologized on Twitter.
Earlier today I made a horrible attempt at humor. In a segment during the show, I impersonated agent Don Yee in an insensitive and regrettable way. I want to publicly apologize to Don and anyone in the audience who heard it.
— christian fauria (@christianfauria) February 10, 2018
The former Patriots tight end, who won two Super Bowls as Brady's teammate from 2002-05, also said he would reach out to Yee.
I have also reached out to Don directly to personally apologize. I have been disciplined by WEEI management and I fully support their decision.
— christian fauria (@christianfauria) February 10, 2018
Fauria is the second WEEI host to be involved in a Brady-related suspension over the past two weeks. Another host was suspended for calling Brady's five-year-old daughter a name in a show that aired less than two weeks before the Super Bowl. Borges's column is also suspended indefinitely, according to the Herald.
