On WIP, Spike Eskin addresses his father’s ‘unwelcome kiss’ toward an Aramark worker
The younger Eskin said he was treating the incident as if it were anyone else at WIP. He wouldn't be weighing in.
Howard Eskin, the longtime Philadelphia broadcaster, has yet to publicly address his season-long ban from Citizens Bank Park over an unwanted kiss he gave a ballpark employee. But a day after The Inquirer reported the May incident, his son Spike Eskin addressed the elephant in the room if only to say he wouldn’t be commenting.
“I don’t feel comfortable, at all, speaking on the issue itself as I would not if it was anybody else here at WIP,” said Spike Eskin at the top of the afternoon drive, a time slot his father once dominated.
He went on to say the incident was between his father, the station, and the “people involved.” Still, Spike Eskin said his cohosts and listeners deserved at least mention of the incident from him.
“The truth though is that he and I are different people who do different things, even though he did this job and I do this job, I am not him,” Spike Eskin said. “He is not me. I think we have made that very clear over the years for better or for worse.”
The younger Eskin joined the afternoon drive program earlier this year. Some sports fans had taken to social media to ask him to weigh in on his father’s actions.
His brief comments come on the heels of an indefinite ban on his father imposed by the Sixers on Wednesday after they learned of the Citizens Bank Park incident.
WIP programming hit on a variety of topics Wednesday morning and early afternoon: Michael Mercado’s MLB debut as a starter, whether the Eagles or Sixers are more likely to win a championship, and NBA free agency.
Conspicuously absent from the lineup was any mention of Howard Eskin and the unwanted kiss he gave a female Aramark employee in May, which led to Audacy, WIP’s parent company, to ban him from Citizens Bank Park for the remainder of the Phillies’ season. He will remain on WIP’s airwaves.
The incident happened hours before a game in the CP Rankin Club, an exclusive seating area behind home plate formerly known as the Diamond Club, according to sources, who were not willing to be identified because they were not authorized to discuss the matter. Eskin allegedly tried to kiss the woman as she backed away.
The incident was handled discreetly, with Howard Eskin’s ban instated with no fanfare. Still, the broadcaster is a known presence in Phillies media scrums and his continued absence raised questions from fans as Eskin continued to host his two-hour weekly Saturday show and made guest appearances during weekday programming.
Sources familiar with conversations regarding Howard Eskin’s employment said there were no plans to take him off the air.
After The Inquirer wrote about the ban, Audacy sent a companywide email, describing Eskin’s behavior as “harassment.”
Howard Eskin, 73, dominated the airwaves in the 1990s, regularly referring to anyone who disagreed with him as a “dope” or “genius.” His firebrand style made him a sports media mainstay in the city while drawing love and derision from fans for his slew of feuds with athletes.
He took a reduced role at WIP in 2011 but has remained a prominent figure in the sports media landscape.