Boston Globe Ban In 1999, the
Boston Globe's executive sports editor, Don Skwar banned its sportswriters from the Globe from appearing on the
Dennis & Callahan morning show because of its perceived lowbrow humor. This came two weeks after he banned
Globe sportswriters from appearing on WEEI's afternoon
The Big Show after columnist
Ron Borges appeared on the show and used a racial slur to describe
New York Yankees pitcher
Hideki Irabu. After the ban, WEEI retaliated by banning Globe sportswriters from all WEEI programs. It was also about this time that
Michael Holley, who was involved with both, chose his side and departed from the
Globe to join WEEI full time. However, the show has welcomed
Globe stalwart
Bob Ryan as a guest host and did welcome former
Globe columnist
Jackie MacMullan while Ryan and
Kathryn Tappen were guest hosting in order to share a story about
Whitey Bulger soon after he was caught in the summer of 2011.
METCO controversy On September 29, 2003, during a segment called 'headlines', where they read and comment about current news stories, Callahan and his morning co-host John Dennis made racist comments while discussing a story about an escaped gorilla. Both hosts apologized and were sent to
sensitivity training. WEEI also agreed to provide free advertising for the METCO program on the radio station. In November 2003, WEEI General Manager Tom Baker was replaced by Julie Kahn. Station executives denied there was a connection between the METCO incident and Baker's replacement. In the audio tape, Dennis accuses Russillo of being a drunk and hitting on his daughter. After the incident, the
New England Patriots had Russillo removed from
WBCN's post-game show with Gary Tanguay & Company. At the time WBCN, which was owned by CBS, held broadcast rights to Patriot games. Dennis denied any responsibility for the Patriots' decision.
Kevin Weeks interview In March 2006, some listeners of the Dennis and Callahan Show were upset when they conducted an in studio interview with
Kevin Weeks, a former member of
Whitey Bulger's
South Boston based criminal organization. Weeks had admitted to committing armed and unarmed assaults, kidnappings and being an accessory to several murders on behalf of Whitey Bulger and had played a role helping Bulger escape arrest. (Opie and Anthony was eventually dropped by WBCN by the end of the year due to a continued decline in ratings, which led to the cancellation of the program by CBS Radio shortly thereafter.)
Election joke In November 2008, the duo drew criticism from the office of
Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin after they told listeners that the election had been postponed and that Democrats should cast their votes on November 5 (the day after Election Day). Galvin's spokesperson said the show was doing a disservice to voters and warned them that they could be violating a state law against interfering with elections. In response, Gerry Callahan stated "Obviously it was a joke and I think most listeners understood it was a joke".{{cite news
Receiving threatening phone calls In January 2009, a man from
Cambridge, Massachusetts, was charged in relation to a series of obscene and threatening phone calls made to the station over a period of two months. The man, who was apparently upset with the on-air duo's support of
Senator John McCain's presidential candidacy, allegedly called the station starting in October 2008 threatening the show's hosts as well as WEEI program director Jason Wolfe and vice president of Entercom New England Julie Kahn. The man who was charged with two counts of criminal harassment, two counts of threats to commit a crime and a single count of making annoying phone calls.{{cite news
Dennis' alcohol rehab In April 2015, Dennis wrote in the
Boston Herald that he was taking an indefinite leave of absence from WEEI in order to enter rehab and address his alcoholism. Callahan and Minihane stated their support on the air, and after a successful stay of roughly a month, Dennis returned to the show sober. ==Other topics==