New Orleans sports radio host Seth Dunlap announced on Twitter Thursday that he would be taking a leave of absence from hosting his show on WWL in the wake of a controversy.
Dunlap hosts a sports show called “The Last Lap” on WWL in New Orleans and is also the host for the Saints’ pregame radio show. He published an article after the Saints’ “Monday Night Football” win over the Houston Texans about his five biggest overreactions to the game. The following day he promoted his article and asked which of the “overreactions” wasn’t actually an overreaction.
Which of these 5 “overreactions” isn’t actually an overreaction? You tell me… https://t.co/N9gMTaE7HV
— Seth Dunlap (@sethdunlap) September 10, 2019
WWL, the station where he hosts his show, responded to his question about overreactions and said “that you’re a f–.”
Way to go @WWLAMFM. SUPER classy.Whoever had access to your account needs to be held accountable for this immediately. Despicable. In other news @sethdunlap just gained a fan and follower. pic.twitter.com/HzQb9urNHb
— Kyle Melancon (@kyle_melancon) September 10, 2019
Dunlap is openly gay. He received attention for an open letter he recently wrote to Drew Brees regarding the quarterback’s support of Focus on the Family, a religious group that has many anti-gay views.
The same day that the station sent the tweet with the gay slur, WWL sent a follow-up tweet to address it.
We are aware of a tweet that went out today from the WWL account. The content of the tweet is categorically offensive and abhorrent to the station. We are actively investigating this incident and will take swift and appropriate action once we determine how this occurred.
— WWL Radio (@WWLAMFM) September 11, 2019
Two days after the station’s response, Dunlap shared on Twitter that he was taking a leave of absence. He provided his reasoning, saying he was making a “deeply personal” decision.
Thanks to the many people inside and outside the organization who have shown their support over the past couple of days. There are many people working at WWL and Entercom who are wonderful people, and have been unfairly swept up in this.
— Seth Dunlap (@sethdunlap) September 12, 2019
I look forward to speaking more about this incident soon. Don't worry, I'm not going away. I am just taking time to decide what's best for my career, but also for my life away the microphone.
— Seth Dunlap (@sethdunlap) September 12, 2019
