Nick Piccone
It’s been a roller coaster ride of a week regarding Philly sports radio. On Monday, Crossing Broad unearthed the story of ‘Dwayne from Swedesboro’ being a fake caller on 97.5 The Fanatic by producer Pat Egan. Our own Sean Brace, a former 97.5 The Fanatic employee, gave his take on the situation on FOX 29’s Good Day Philadelphia on Wednesday morning, and then WIP’s Josh Innes was fired on Wednesday afternoon for reportedly “going too far” in his criticism of Mike Missanelli and 97.5 The Fanatic as a whole in the ‘Dwayne from Swedesboro’ story.
While more details have come out about Innes’ firing, we were told there would be no discipline handed to anyone at 97.5 for their roles in creating the fake caller, but when Asa Khalif and Black Lives Matter announced they would protest outside of the station, minds were changed about disciplinary actions.
On Thursday, the station suspended three people – Egan, Jason Myrtetus, and Matthew Nahigian, 97.5’s program director. Each of them were given three-day suspensions.
And now, according to Philly Mag, 97.5 The Fanatic has agreed to give written and on-air apology statements after meeting with Black Lives Matter activists on Friday morning.
Black Lives Matter activists in Philadelphia say that 97.5 The Fanatic has agreed to give written and on-air apologies for a series of incidents in which a white producer called into Mike Missanelli’s radio show pretending to be a black man known as “Dwayne from Swedesboro” and playing into racial stereotypes.
The group met with producers, some of whom have been suspended over the matter, on Friday morning, said Asa Khalif, a local Black Lives Matter leader.
“It was good,” Khalif said. “I was very pleased with the outcome of the meeting and I look forward to the rest of the dialogue as well. We touched on some really heavy-hitting things.”
Khalif said “the atmosphere today was one of peace,” and that the station listened to the group’s grievances. The producers agreed to apologize on air and in a public statement, he said.
Khalif had initially planned to protest at the station. He said on Friday that Black Lives Matter thinks actions like that are necessary sometimes, but that it can also “come to the table” and work things out without demonstrations.
I can confirm Missanelli had no clue about the character being portrayed, nor any clue it was Egan behind the character.
You can confirm Missnaelli knew nothing about it? And how exactly can you confirm that? Because he said so? You know his temper, it is legendary. I can tell, just by the way he reacted, that he absolutely knew it all along or he would have gone ape shit and fired at least Egan. He’s lying, just like the Victor Cruz tweet.
There’s more to it than that. I’ve talked to various people. That’s better than just assuming, right?
You are very naive arent you. And what are the apologies for?