A pair of Chicago radio hosts from 670 AM The Score, Dan Bernstein and Matt Spiegel, showed off some impressive sexism and unprofessionalism on Twitter Wednesday night, turning a conversation about CSN Chicago reporter Aiyana Cristal’s work into one about her breasts. Here are the key tweets in question,
@MattSpiegel670 I have no rooting interest in her work, but enjoy her giant boobs.
— Dan Bernstein (@dan_bernstein) March 26, 2015
@dan_bernstein Seconded.
— M@ Spiegel (@MattSpiegel670) March 26, 2015
Both have since apologized, with Spiegel doing so on Twitter and on the air and Bernstein talking about it on the air. However, they’ve taken a lot of criticism for this, and deservedly so. Some of the best came from Fox’s Katie Nolan and from ESPN’s Michelle Beadle:
I have no interest in what Dan Bernstein's work, but would enjoy seeing his tiny dick. pic.twitter.com/YwoJLVonjV
— Katie Nolan (@katienolan) March 26, 2015
I have no rooting interest in their work, but enjoy their played out, misogynistic, knuckle- dragging brains. @AndeWall #BeBetterBoys
— Michelle Beadle (@MichelleDBeadle) March 26, 2015
Yahoo’s Marc J. Spears, chair of the National Association of Black Journalists’ Sports Task Force, tweeted Thursday that the association was concerned by the comments:
The @nabjsports is deeply concerned by inappropriate sexual comments on Twitter by Chicago radio hosts against CSN Chicago's Aiyana Cristal.
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpearsESPN) March 26, 2015
Our national membership at @NABJSports is standing alongside CSN Chicago's Aiyana Crystal at this trying time. We will investigate further.
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpearsESPN) March 26, 2015
Spears and NABJ president Bob Butler condemned the radio hosts in a release published Thursday afternoon:
Both men apologized for their remarks Thursday, but NABJ President Bob Butler said he hopes CBS takes appropriate action and uses this as a teaching moment of how not to use social media.
“I’ve known Cristal since she graduated from college and I know she has paid a lot of dues to get where she is today,” Butler said. “She does not deserve this, nor does any other woman who works in our industry.”
“There is no room for prejudice in today’s sports landscape where journalists of every gender, nationality and color deserve to be respected for the merits of their pen and/or microphone, not their appearance,” said NABJ Sports Task Force Chair Marc Spears.
“We hope that Matt Spiegel, Dan Bernstein and WCSR will make amends with Aiyana for their ignorant references and do their part in improving the overall climate of respect for female journalists working in the sports industry.”
That really is the key here. Off-colour comments from two individual radio hosts would be one thing, but these comments are at least partly due to an atmosphere where many fans and journalists regard women in sports media (and sideline reporters in particular) as there to be looked at. That shouldn’t be the case. It’s not a problem that’s limited solely to journalists, as there are plenty of fans out there who say similar or worse things regularly, but it’s one that everyone should be called out for, and journalists especially. At least Spiegel and Bernstein have apologized, and hopefully they’ll be better in the future. The bigger lesson isn’t just for them, though; everyone in sports, whether athlete, fan or media member, needs to realize that female members of the media are there doing a job like everyone else and aren’t there to be objectified. Maybe this will be the start of changing that, but that perception’s so engrained throughout sports that it won’t be easy to alter it.