When you’re in a conservative city on the border of the South and the Midwest, and that city has not one but two significant college basketball programs chock full of recruits from around the country, there are bound to be cultural conflicts between the city’s traditional base and the teams that are now a significant part of the city itself. That’s exactly what’s happening in Cincinnati, and the results are getting ugly. The latest proof? Conservative radio host Bill Cunningham opined this morning that University of Cincinnati basketball players are, “poppin’ those things (illegitimate children) out like cherry pits out of one’s mouth.”

(Meet the new Don Imus: Now with even more overt racism!)

He really said it, folks - we’re not making this kind of bigoted trash up, as you can see and hear at this FAN NATION post. In fact, the entirety of Cunningham’s quote was a lot more inflammatory than that. Here it is, though you might want to brace yourself to hear every rash, racist “player” stereotype that can get thrown out about African-American athletes. You can also hear it in a video clip right after the jump. Ready? OK, here we go:

“How many illegitimate children does the UC men’s basketball team have? I heard it’s more than a half dozen.” Cunningham responded to himself, ignoring his producer’s conciliatory reply. “So there’s some hangin’ and bangin’ going on at the Shoemaker Center after the game. … [T]hey’re poppin’ those things out like cherry pits out of one’s mouth.” Cunningham openly mused.

Clearly, Cunningham has gone way beyond the bounds of reasonable comedic radio journalism. In fact, he’s gone way beyond the bounds of taste and, in our opinion, employability. Clearly, he’s forgotten Don Imus and how his “nappy-headed hos” comment went down over at Rutgers a couple of years ago.

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