‘NBA Players Can’t Read,’ Idiot Proclaims on Radio

Fuck you, Tony Bruno.

The overwhelmingly white and bald sports-talk host had himself a proper tirade earlier this week. In Bruno’s crosshairs was the NBA, which he accused of committing “professional suicide” with its too-frequent reminders that state-sanctioned brutality is bad.

Bruno’s dog whistle began as most do these days — with a critique of the league’s most prominent player.

“LeBron’s not focused on the game right now. He’s talking about the situation that went on with the police shooting over the weekend,” said the afternoon voice on SiriusXM’s Dan Patrick Radio.

“He only talks about the lives he thinks matter, but other lives don’t matter. That’s why I despise LeBron James and I despise the NBA,” Bruno said, emphasizing “despise.”

Perhaps sensing where the diatribe was headed, Bruno’s co-host, Harry Mayes, threw him a lifeline: “I just watch the games. I just enjoy the sport.”

But Bruno was either too worked up, or too blisteringly stupid, to pick up on the cue. Quickly, his boilerplate appeal to Boomer racism — because who else listens to radio — spiraled into something even more sinister.

“Most of these guys can’t even read, for god’s sake,” Bruno blasted.

And there it is. Dog whistle turned bullhorn, on national radio. Courtesy of certified goon Tony Bruno.

It was bullshit in 1983 when they called Patrick Ewing illiterate. It was bullshit in 1989 when they said the same thing about J.R. Reid. And it’s bullshit now.

Via reader tip