Michael Wilbon reacted to former MLB player Torii Hunter’s claims that the only place in the league where he suffered racial abuse was at Fenway Park, where the Boston Red Sox play. Hunter revealed on ESPN’s Golic and Wingo that he always put a no-trade-to-Boston clause in his contracts after being subjected to racial abuse at the stadium.
Wilbon responded to those comments, and the Red Sox releasing a statement addressing the situation, on Thursday’s edition of Pardon the Interruption. He revealed that he had a similar experience in the city when he was covering games at the old Boston Celtics arena, the Boston Garden.
“The only times I’ve been called the N-word to my face in public have been in Boston Garden. The Red Sox don’t play there, the Celtics do, OK?” Wilbon said.
“The only time I’ve feared for my life in the streets—feared for my life—I was with David DuPree…and we were in Boston, covering a series. We wound up in South Boston, and a cab driver, a white cab driver, screeches over to the curb and said, ‘Get in, I don’t know where you guys think you are.'”
The only times I've been called the N-word to my face in public have been in Boston Garden. I'm shocked at this admission by the Red Sox pic.twitter.com/46W4CEpLfI
— Michael Wilbon (@RealMikeWilbon) June 11, 2020
This venue was closed in 1995 before being replaced by its successor, the TD Garden, where the Celtics play right now. Wilbon didn’t mention the TD Garden, so perhaps those actions are part of the past for Boston fans. It would be ironic to see some fans shouting racial slurs at someone knowing that their Big 3 of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart are all black players.
Racism is a very sensitive topic in the US right now. NBA players and analysts have been very outspoken about the matter and it looks like everybody is heading in the same direction, trying to stop racial injustice in America.
