Video of WFAN’s Gregg Giannotii hammering a caller this week because the guy called him soft and told him to suck it up:

Here’s the CliffsNotes from James Kratch at our sister site ESNY:

Gregg Giannotti ripped into two callers for insensitive remarks. He swore on air when responding to misogynistic comments by the first caller, then lambasted the second for trivializing mental health issues in a personal rant where he revealed his own struggles — and then appeared to take a shot at partner Boomer Esiason at the end.

After a caller suggested Giannotti acted like a woman with his behavior — Giannotti’s profane rebuttal forced WFAN to dump the audio — the program received a call from “Bill in Connecticut.”

Mr. Connecticut said Giannotti was “soft” and his content style resembles “Housewives shows.” He then made strange comments about Giannotti’s high school sports career, referenced his injury playing for WFAN’s softball team and referenced an on-air incident that Giannotti said was the result of a “legitimate anxiety attack”

Seems like it was an eventful show for Boomer and Gio.

We’ve been over the mental health thing before. It’s much less taboo than it used to be. People take depression and anxiety more seriously these days, which is generally a good thing. Case in point, look at the positive support for Lane Johnson and Brandon Brooks.

The only negative is that sometimes people label utter nonsense as a “mental health” problem, like if you got ticketed by the PPA and then spilled soda on yourself, you’re not “depressed,” it just means you had a shit day. Sounds trivial, but it’s actually kind of important, because people wanna take rudimentary day-to-day things and compare random misfortune to real struggles that other folks have.

Here’s the full transcript of Gio’s comments from Kratch:

Oh, my God. Are you serious, Bill? You’ve got to suck it up? Do you know how many people have killed themselves because they were told to suck up their mental illness? Seriously. You know how many people? That’s the most insulting thing I’ve heard all the time. I’ve gone to therapy, I’m on two different medications, I’m trying my best to get through the things I have wrong with me. And you’re telling me to suck it up?

I mean, this is why you get a lot of people who go through real trauma, who are out in wars and come back here and kill themselves, because they were told to suck it up. Because of guys like you. Bill in Connecticut. Because I’m soft because I had a panic attack. That’s a real thing, man. It’s a real thing. If you don’t want to believe it, then quite frankly you’re not smart enough or intelligent enough to understand it.

I mean, you’re soft because you had a panic attack. That’s what I heard. I mean, we have got the most idiotic, neanderthal callers out there. This is not 1945 any more, man. Women are equal and people have mental illness. Anybody else want to bring on something else? Anybody want to call up and knock some Black people while we’re at it? Let’s do that. Hispanics? So we’ve already taken on women and people with mental illness. What about little people? Want to take them on too, today? What are we doing?

You’re soft because you had a panic attack. It’s 2023, man. And that’s not going to hurt me anymore. it’s not. Tell that to guys like Kevin Love, in the NBA, suffers from anxiety. He doesn’t get hurt, he’s not soft, he plays professional sports. Does that live up to your standard, Bill in Connecticut? He’s got anxiety. Is that OK? Is that OK? There are people who have fought in wars and come back, way tougher than I’ll ever be, and have anxiety. Are they soft? Or are you a dick? You’re a dick. We’re not soft. Got it?

Those of us who admit we’ve got issues, whether they be depression or anxiety, and deal with it in our lives to get to be in a better place, are not soft. You, my friend, you’re the soft one. You are the idiot and you are the dick. Get that through your head. The last thing that people are that confront to their mental issues to have a better life for them and their families is soft. That’s the last effing thing. I’m of the old school. No, you’re not. You’re an idiot. You’re an idiot who hasn’t developed.

Don’t give me that crap. Don’t ever bring that crap in here again. You’re soft if you’re mentally ill or have anxiety. I swear to God, if you were in front of me now I’d show you what soft is.