Sean Salisbury Should Probably Relax A Little Bit

So yesterday, on his radio show in Chicago, Sean Salisbury addressed the whole "did he say Jew or not?" issue, using his platform mainly to trash those lowly bloggers and let everyone know that his soul is pure of spirit and that he hugs cute puppies, even Jewish ones.

Mainly, Salisbury is saying that he clearly said "chew" and nothing close to "Jew," which, if you've listened to the audio, seems specious at best. (Don Imus played the clip on his radio show this morning and said what any reasonable person would think, that he said "Jew." And Don Imus knows everything!) The thing is, once we listened to the tape, we were rather far from convinced that it was some sort of anti-Semetic rant; to us, it just sounds like a verbal slip, a guy talking live on television who got stuck between two words and said the one in the middle. So we'd all be willing to let it die, but Salisbury just won't allow it, hollering to anyone who will listen — not many people, mind you — that he never, ever said "Jew." ( This interview in the Chicago Tribune probably isn't helping.) The wise thing here would be to simply say "hey, I'm on live television, and it's hard, and sometimes I talk too fast, and the word 'Jew' came out when I was clearly trying to say something else." Or, you know, just let it die. We had let it go, simply putting out the audio and letting everyone decide for themselves. But the more Salisbury screams "I never said 'Jew," the more we fear he's starting to protest too much.

In other words ... maybe it's time to sit a few plays out, big guy. We don't think most people believe you hate Jews. The best way to make sure that stays the case is probably to stop mentioning it for a while. If you stop, we'll stop. Deal?

Salisbury Denies he Used Slur [New York Post] The Salisbury Audio: Decide For Yourself [Deadspin] His Side [Chicago Tribune]

(You can find Salisbury's audio rant about this right here.)