Hot mics have embarrassed many a media professional.
Cincinnati Reds longtime broadcaster Thom Brennaman was suspended indefinitely in 2020 after his microphone accidentally picked up him using a three-letter anti-gay slur.
Charles Barkley dropped an uncensored F-bomb during an Inside the NBA on TNT broadcast in 2025 while venting about NBA award voters.
And just two months ago, San Francisco Giants executive Buster Posey trolled radio station KNBR on-air after a behind-the-scenes employee was caught on a hot mic talking trash about him.
Add reporters covering Sacramento Kings media day Monday to the list. At least three were heard in an unvarnished conversation about Kings players Ben Simmons and Zach LaVine that took a personal turn.
A handful of local outlets livestreamed media day interviews. But the mics also picked up reporters chatting, and embarrassing comments went beyond their frequent use of the hyper-localized and outdated NorCal modifier “hella.”
Comments begin about Simmons, a guard on a one-year, non-guaranteed contract after missing last season with injuries. A female says “That’s what comes with being Ben Simmons. He is cringe, cringe,” and another jumps in to say he is “lucky he’s so fine.”
The first media member agrees, saying “He’s a good-looking dude. His skin is, like, so smooth, I was like, damn, no tattoos?”
A male voice joins the conversation, asking, “I thought Jordan Poole was your type.”
A female voice replies, “Allegedly, I like light-skinned, I guess.”
The male voice continues: “What about Zach LaVine, then?”
“Hella fine,” the female voice replies.
“I think his personality annoys the [expletive] out of me, so that’s what makes him less fine,” the first person says. “Zach’s cute but his personality [expletive] annoys me. He just seems like hella like a prick. But he is beautiful.”
“He’s a [expletive] UCLA guy,” replies the third person. “Just all of them are.”
Another voice jumps in, offering that LaVine is “hella fine, too.”
Someone asks how the others would rank Kings players by hotness. One voice votes for Simmons because of “his skincare routine.”
Apparently referring to the team’s woeful 22-60 record last season, the male voice responds by cracking, “Well, Ben wasn’t a King for the last year and a half either,” to which a female voice concedes, “That’s true.”
The reporters involved have not been publicly identified, and none of the players have responded. LaVine’s wife, Hunter, did offer a low-key comment to the Kings Muse recording, writing on X, “a great start to the season!”
The episode called to mind the hot mic that marred the Toronto Raptors’ postseason news conference last April. Two unidentified media members were heard making disparaging commentsabout players Scottie Barnes and Jonathan Mogbo.
“It’s not just his enunciation, which, like, was super bad, especially last year,” one person said about Barnes. “But even the attitude. Just the attitude — like he’s having fun up there. First year or even before, he just kept getting worse and worse every year.”
Rookie forward Mogbo was the next target. “When I first interviewed Mogbo when he was drafted, I was shocked ’cause he was so dumb,” the person said.
Raptors fans were appalled by the comments, but Barnes responded with humor on social media. It remains to be seen how Simmons and LaVine react.
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