MORGANTOWN, West Virginia — Although Bob Huggins kept his job, popular podcast host Josh Neighbors was fired for airing the uncensored audio of Bob Huggins from the Cincinnati radio show.
Neighbors was the host of the “Locked On Big 12” podcast and was contacted by management after airing the comments and was told that he would be terminated. “I made the conscious decision to play Bob Huggins’ comments in their entirety and without censoring the slurs that he used, Neighbors later explained. “I did that because I thought it was important to play and get the full context of what he had said. I followed that up by saying I thought what he said was abhorrent.”
Neighbors went on to say, “There is a zero tolerance policy on hate speech, whether you are decrying it or using it. That is their prerogative because Locked On podcast goes to various platforms. I thought I was using my platform to combat the hate speech, to say it’s unacceptable … It did not matter to the people at Locked On.”
Hear Neighbors’ full comments following his termination below:
I have been let go as the host of @LOBig12. Just wanted to give you all an update on why. The episode in discussion has been removed from sites where it was posted pic.twitter.com/qWtVD41SgJ
— Josh Neighbors (@JoshNeighbors_) May 11, 2023
A podcast host was fired for simply airing Bob Huggins' comments about Xavier fans.
Everyone involved with the firing should be ashamed and embarrassed.
Airing direct, uncensored quotes should NEVER be an issue. This country is going insane. https://t.co/bFI1jQU9j2
— David Hookstead (@dhookstead) May 11, 2023
