RADIO WARS: Tony Bruno Calls Mike Missanelli an "Unmitigated Douchebag," Says Missanelli Created Fake Twitter Accounts to Threaten Him
There are more gonads and strife in the body-riddled hellscape that is Philly sports talk radio. Tony Bruno, out of the fray for some time, weighed in on everything – particularly Mike Missanelli’s impressive ability to side-step negative consequences – on his podcast last night. Let’s watch the video and read the transcription after the jump. And then I’ll follow up with my thoughts.
The fun starts around 8:30
“[What 97.5 did was] fraud. That is fraud, ladies and gentlemen. And I don’t blame Pat Egan. Pat Egan was put up to this by somebody at 97.5. Mike Missanelli allegedly had NO IDEA that for two years a guy that he works with, for two years, he did not know that it was a white guy pretending to be a black guy, I guess to placate Mike’s pals who think he’s the everyman. Oh he’s a regular guy. When he’s not on the golf course, and he’s not hanging out on the Main Line with his golf buddies, or down as his estate down in Avalon, looking down on real people, he wants to pretend that he’s “down with the brothas.” He’s down with the black community. He’s everybody’s favorite guy. He’s just a swell guy. He’s not, he’s a douche. He’s an unmitigated douchebag. And I’m saying this for the first time publicly because I don’t care anymore. I never cared about Mike Missanelli from day one. He’s done things to me that have been heinous.
He has created fake twitter accounts to attack me, Robin, my family. He’s done it. I know he’s done it. We found out that he did it. He’s a fraud. He’s a jealous, petty, piece of garbage. And the fact that the gutless weasels Matt Nahigian and the upper management at 97.5 the Fanatic did not discipline anybody when the radio station was a national laughing stock. It wasn’t Josh Innes who got fired today for being an idiot, it was 97.5 that was being ridiculed on ESPN, on Deadspin, on every website in America. They were a national laughing stock. That’s not my opinion, that’s a fact. Every blog and every website has absolutely torched 97.5, and justifiably so.
It’s not because I have an axe to grind, I don’t care. I’m looking at this objectively. The fact that no one was even disciplined for perpetrating a fraud on a radio audience by pretending that a white guy was a black guy and calling it and going along with this ruse, and then allegedly not knowing about it? That’s fraud.
Mike Missanelli has the great, great ability to have a management that’s afraid of him. Everybody that works for his is afraid of him, because they need him. And when you need somebody and you’re bigger than your employers – there’s only a couple of guys in this city: Angelo Cataldi and Mike Missanelli have that over their bosses. Their bosses cannot survive without them. So therefore their bosses will tolerate anything that they do…When you have the power that your bosses are afraid of you, then they will not discipline you no matter what you do.
Mike Missanelli is the Hillary Clinton of sports talk radio. He can have 18,000 scandals, he can commit crimes, fraud, take money from people, have people show up dead, and nothing bad ever happens to him. You can quote me. He’s the Hillary Clinton of sports talk radio. He’s a teflon don, though he ain’t even a don, he thinks he is because he watches all those stupid mob shows…
I have no inetntion of going back to 97.5 or WIP, so it’s not that I’m looking for a job…they could call me and offer me a billon dollars, ten billion dollars, and I would never work for 97.5 the Fanatic, Matt Nahigian, or WIP ever again.
And the reason that Josh Innes was fired – I’ll give you that – Josh Innes was the last guy I worked with. The reason he was fired today? Because CBS is trying to unload its radio properties. 97.5 was already unloaded, Greater Media sold out to Beasley, so they don’t want anything to interfere with the potential purchase of a radio property. So what do you do? You start disciplining people because you’re worried that a potential suitor.”
Bruno has had a longtime stalker through various social media accounts and, it is believed, our comment section. I’ve heard these charges – that it’s Missanelli – and have looked into them. I don’t believe Mike is tech-savvy enough to create multiple Twitter handles, using multiple email addresses, and tweet threats at Bruno while he is on the air. I also don’t think he would have absolutely any idea how to mask his IP address the way Bruno’s troll has. But, to my knowledge, this is the first time Tony has gone public with these accusations. Further into the abyss we go. NEED SOME MUSIC: