One of the 2018 Olympics feel-good stories has been dragged into the ongoing national conversation surrounding sexual harassment. On Wednesday morning, popular sports media outlet Barstool Sports was recapping 17-year-old Chloe Kim’s historic gold medal victory when it suddenly turned sexual.
Radio personality Patrick Connor, who was co-hosting “Dialed-In with Dallas Braden” mentioned his attraction to the minor. “Her 18th birthday is April 23, and the countdown is on, baby. That’s what I like about them high school girls,” he said, echoing the famous Matthew McConaughey line from cult classic “Dazed and Confused.”
He didn’t stop there.
“She’s fine as hell! If she was 18, you wouldn’t be ashamed to say that she’s a little hot piece of ass. And she is. She is adorable. I’m a huge Chloe Kim fan.”
He was let go Wednesday morning by KNBR, a San Francisco based radio station — the day after Connor made his second appearance on Barstool Sports, where his co-host, who originally chuckled at the comments, scolded his guest, “This is not me asking. This is not a suggestion-based forum. This is a one-way conversation. You will clean it the f*ck up or day three will be the last day here. This is not how we do sh*t.”
He added that both he and Connor did not hold up their professional, ethical standards. Connor also apologized to his co-workers, his significant other, Kim and her father. “I just want to quickly address my behavior yesterday,” he said. “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. It was pretty needy, and that’s not a good look. And I’ve taken a pretty good beating and I effing deserve it. Don’t feel sorry for me.”
This was the second incident concerning Barstool Sports. Two months ago, their editor-in-chief took down a post on Twitter, where he described a teenager as a “hot Texas cheerleader.” The girl’s mother commented telling him he just objectified a 16-year-old. Dave Portnoy, president of Barstool Sports, announced the company will not have live programming on Friday to undergo mandatory sensitivity training. Portnoy took to Twitter, “Nothing is more important @barstoolsports than trying to bring humor to our fans lives. Occasionally we miss the mark. Most of the time we don’t. Regardless we won’t let advertisers, crybabies and jealous people dictate what we do. You don’t like us Don’t listen, watch or read.”
