Red Sox broadcaster under fire for mocking Farhan Zaidi’s name

Red Sox broadcaster Sean McDonough is catching heat for making a joke about San Francisco Giants executive Farhan Zaidi’s name.

The Red Sox may be looking ahead to their ALDS series against the Rays, but broadcaster Sean McDonough has some apologizing to do before that.

During Tuesday night’s wild card game between Boston and New York, McDonough made a questionable joke about the name of Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi.

Red Sox broadcaster Sean McDonough made fun of Farhan Zaidi’s name

The audio includes an exchange between McDonough and fellow broadcaster Will Flemming. The former asked the latter about San Francisco’s impressive 107-win season. Flemming, who is the brother of Giants’ broadcaster Dave Flemming, said the only ones who might have seen that coming were Zaidi and manager Gabe Kapler.

“Their GM’s name is ‘High Anxiety’?” McDonough joked.

After Flemming corrected the pronunciation of Zaidi’s name, the conversation moved on but some who listened immediately bristled.

At best, McDonough’s joke was unfunny and at the expense of a foreign-sounding name. He never should have made it.

Does the incident warrant anything more than a reprimand and an apology? Probably not. McDonough should own up to the misstep and acknowledge it was in poor taste. The sooner he does that, the sooner everyone can move on to focus on the postseason.