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The Toronto Raptors’ end-of-season press conference quickly drew controversy after a hot mic picked up a private conversation between two unidentified media members making disparaging remarks about players Scottie Barnes and Jonathan Mogbo.
The press conference, held Monday following the Raptors’ 30-52 finish to the season, had initially been routine before audio surfaced online revealing off-camera reporters criticizing Barnes’ communication style and attitude.
“It’s not just his enunciation, which, like, was super bad, especially last year,” one reporter was heard saying. “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.”
The conversation then shifted toward first-year forward Jonathan Mogbo, with another reporter making an even more pointed remark.
“When I first interviewed Mogbo when he was drafted, I was shocked ’cause he was so dumb,” the person said.
Raptors press conference derails as hot mic captures unfiltered media banter
As the exchange continued, someone off-screen attempted to warn the individuals that the microphones were live. The pair laughed off the warning.
“Then you should tell us that… we should sign a waiver,” one of them replied.
The clip, which quickly circulated across social media platforms, also featured additional offhand remarks reflecting on past comments, including a profane suggestion that other controversial statements had previously been made. “There’s some f***ing bad things you guys said,” one voice was heard saying, before another person responded, “No, my trademark… careful language [is] paying off.”
The individuals went on to comment on the players’ media training, saying, “They probably had media training to not overextend their answers,” and later joked, “On the way in he was like don’t say championship.”
Scottie Barnes and Chris Boucher respond with humor as hot mic fallout spreads online
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Despite the controversy, Scottie Barnes closed the press conference with a hopeful message for Raptors fans.
“If you saw my face last year at this time, I don’t think I was looking the right way,” Barnes said. “But I’m excited for what the future holds and what we’re going to grow into. With the team we have, there are no excuses. We should definitely be in the playoffs.”
Fallout from the incident prompted a public response from TSN Sports’ Josh Lewenberg, who was wrongly identified online as one of the individuals involved.
“Taking a moment to appreciate the hard-working members of the Raptors media,” Lewenberg posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. “It’s been a long season & stuff happens, but to clarify for those who mistakenly identified my voice, I did not participate in the conversation that was picked up on a hot mic at today’s press conference.”
Scottie Barnes later shared the video clip on his Instagram story with the caption, “Be chatting lol.” Raptors teammate Chris Boucher added his own commentary, posting, “Pipebomb?” followed by a bomb emoji and laughing emojis.
Raptors Republic writer Samson Folk also joined the online reaction, posting a humorous scene from Brooklyn Nine-Nine to suggest Barnes and Raptors executive Masai Ujiri might soon be identifying the individuals responsible.
Scottie & Masai will be lining us media members up like this tomorrow to get to the bottom of this pic.twitter.com/jA1SLqKeYu
— Samson Folk (the coach) (@samfolkk) April 15, 2025
As of Wednesday afternoon, the media members involved had not been officially identified.
