Sports radio host Mike Francesa was caught belittling his crew in a hot mic moment that aired on live television.
Francesa, 70, had a disagreement with staff members on “The Mike Francesa Podcast,” which airs on BetRivers Network.
“Who’s correcting me?” Francesa said to members of the control room during the Friday, March 14 episode. “Who was that? Who said that? Who was talking to me? What were you guys talking about? Because I heard it in my headset. I thought you were talking to me.”
The confrontation stemmed from confusion over Saint John’s men’s basketball and their status as Big East conference champions. Francesa argued the team needed to win the conference tournament — which concluded on Saturday, March 15 — in order to be considered the legitimate Big East champions despite winning the Big East regular season championship.
“They have not won the title yet,” Francesa argued. “You win the title tomorrow night. The championship trophy goes with tomorrow night’s winner. It does not go with the regular season champion.”
He continued, “It can’t, because then why the hell would you have the tournament? So, you’re wrong about that. The title goes to who wins tomorrow.”
Francesa announced that whoever told him Saint John’s had already secured the Big East championship “doesn’t know what they’re talking about.” (For the record, Saint John’s defeated Creighton 82-66 in the Big East conference tournament final on Saturday.)
“Now let’s go back and start this over again,” Francesa said. “I don’t want to hear you guys in my headset, okay?”
That’s when Francesa was informed that his rant had already been broadcasted and heard by viewers at home.
“We broke off the air, didn’t we?” Francesa asked. “We’re live? This was all on the air, me yelling at you guys? You gotta be kidding me. You guys gotta be kidding me.”
Left with his mouth agape, a clearly-agitated Francesa offered his regrets to those watching.
“Alright, I apologize for that outburst,” he said. “I didn’t realize we were live. I thought we were taping this. That’s my mistake. I didn’t realize that.”
Francesa did not apologize to his staff members on air, but did acknowledge he was probably due for some comeuppance on social media.
“So, this is going to go viral now because I yelled at you guys,” he told his team. “You realize that?”
While Francesa received plenty of pushback for his admonition of the staff, he found a supporter in longtime New York Mets radio play-by-play announcer, Howie Rose.
“Anybody who thinks Mike was out of line here must have an agenda or a vendetta,” Rose, 71, wrote via X on Monday, March 17. “If you ask me that was about as gentle an admonishment as you can give under the circumstances. He was totally calm, in control and not at all disrespectful. Come on.”
