Chris Russo fires back at WFAN’s Boomer Esiason over criticism
Chris Russo at a SiriusXM Town Hall hosted by Chazz Palminteri at SiriusXM Studios on July 6, 2017. Credit: Getty Images for SiriusXM / Cindy Ord
The war of words between former WFAN host Chris Russo and his old station continued Tuesday.
SiriusXM’s Russo fired back at WFAN morning host Boomer Esiason after the FAN’s morning drive team criticized Russo and Mike Francesa for comments the former “Mike and the Mad Dog” hosts made about the current WFAN lineup.
“You know how many times those guys killed me when I left to go to Sirius?” Russo said during his radio show. “‘Witness protection program, nobody listens to you, what a stupid decision, off you go, you’re irrelevant, nobody cares.’ On and on and on and on for basically 10 years. And I put up with it, I went on their shows. They said it constantly. I kept my mouth shut. Hey, you know what, what the hell if they want to think that way, I know it’s not the case but if they want to think that way. Sirius hated it, they couldn’t stand it, makes them look bad. Sirius’ upper [management] couldn’t stand it. But then when we get on them a little bit and we pick on Boomer, all of a sudden now he’s bent out of shape. Hold on now — one thing leads to another, you kill me for all these years about going to ‘Nowheresville’ when I left FAN to come to Sirius, then when I pick on you about the ratings, who’s listening. Take it like a man, Boom, take it like a man. Jeez, take it like a man.”
Esiason, along with co-host Gregg Giannotti, sharply criticized Francesa and Russo on Monday, with Esiason calling them “classless” during a studio visit from vice president of programming Mark Chernoff. That followed an exchange last week between Russo and Francesa on MLB Network in which Russo said they “could make fun of FAN all day.”
Russo said that his exchange with Francesa “was not done maliciously” and added a piece of advice for the WFAN lineup.
“If you don’t like what we say or what anybody says or you don’t like the criticism, here’s what I would suggest, and this is as fact — get a rating. How ’bout getting a rating. Then if you get a rating, you get last laugh on me. I can’t say anything. You can kill me on . . . then you really can say I went to ‘Nowheresville.’ Get a rating, get ratings. You’ve got a huge platform on a 50,000-watt station that covers Yankee baseball, not to mention Giant football. That station’s been around for now 30 years, 31 years. Get a rating.”
