RADIO WARS: Burger King Howard Eskin Pushes Back Against “Vicious Smear Campaign” from 94 WIP Employees

Howard Eskin, aka the Burger King, posted this on Twitter Saturday in response to claims that he grabbed a female Audacy employee at Chickie’s and Pete’s back in December, which reportedly contributed to his 94 WIP departure:

I had hoped to avoid commenting on my departure from WIP but the vicious smear campaign being waged against me by a small group of employees at the station forces me to defend myself. There was absolutely no “physical altercation” between me and a female employee at the station.… pic.twitter.com/k2WgOdX05I

— Howard Eskin (@howardeskin) January 4, 2025

Full statement: “I had hoped to avoid commenting on my departure from WIP but the vicious smear campaign being waged against me by a small group of employees at the station forces me to defend myself. There was absolutely no “physical altercation” between me and a female employee at the station. I did not “forcibly grab” anyone. The employee interrupted me during an important conversation with Brandon Graham and I raised my voice irritated at the interruption. She stormed away and I followed her and tapped her arm to get her attention to apologize and explain why I was upset. I did not grab her. I apologized three times. She wouldn’t accept my apology or hear me out. The amount of piling on since has been disappointing to say the least. I am only commenting because in all the years of a very public life I have never put a hand on anyone. I can’t tolerate these lies. As they say, don’t believe everything you read in the paper or on social media.”

If you’re in the dark and have no idea what’s going on, here’s the CliffsNotes:

1. Eskin announced about two weeks ago that he was leaving WIP.
2. The Inquirer initially reported that shouted at a female Audacy employee.
3. That Inquirer report was advanced to say that Howard “forcibly grabbed” the woman.
4. Angelo Cataldi went on Dan Sileo’s JAKIB show and said that Howard was under orders from Jeffrey Lurie to remove Brandon Graham from the building, as a result of Graham talking about personal issues between Jalen Hurts and A.J. Brown. That allegedly was the precursor to the confrontation with the employee.
5. Later, Jon Marks shared what he heard about the situation, essentially tweaking Cataldi’s account by claiming that Lurie contacted Big Dom to get Eskin to clean up the Graham problem before the Eagles’ veteran made the issue worse. Marks also reported that the female employee in question was not Ava Graham, which was a sloppy rumor floating around (the woman is connected to the sales department, sort of, and works on the live event and client side; she’s not an on air talent or manager and Philadelphia sports fans would not be familiar with her).

Does that make sense? Okay, good. Now we’ve got Howard coming out and breaking his silence, claiming a smear campaign from “a small group of employees at the station.” He says there was no physical altercation and tells people to not believe everything they read.

So we find ourselves in an old-fashioned he said/she said primarily involving Howard Eskin and Angelo Cataldi + WIP sources, presumably, unless Angelo talked to five short-tipped Chickie’s waitresses and Pete Ciarrocchi himself. Whatever the truth may be, there’s some comical irony in two famous talking heads, who executed pathetic smear campaigns themselves, now entangled in this slopfest.

The obvious question is this –

If Howard is telling the truth, and didn’t actually grab the woman, then why did Audacy part ways with him? Did they get it wrong? Is the woman a liar? Were they just sick of his shit in general and decided that he wasn’t worth the trouble anymore? It would be one thing if there was an internal HR thing continuing, but Howard is gone from WIP and is no longer patrolling the Eagles’ sideline, so this is done and the case is closed, at least as far as Audacy is concerned. Now it’s on you to decide which story is accurate.

Do you believe Angelo’s account (and Jonny Marks)? Or are you riding with the King?

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