WFAN's Craig Carton Defends Himself From Criticism About Zach Wilson Interview

Zach Wilson became the newest quarterback of the New York Jets last Thursday during the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft. His family surrounded him as he received the call. It was a nice moment marred by a section of the online crowd who chose instead to admire Wilson's mother to the point that it caught national media attention and was the top trending topic on Twitter on draft night.

This is why, during an interview with WFAN's Carton & Roberts, Wilson had to answer a question poised by Craig Carton about how uncomfortable he felt that his mother became the star of his draft night. Carton really wanted to know how Wilson felt about the fact that everyone was saying "Wow, his mom is really hot" and her presence on the front page of papers.

Wilson handled the question perfectly. I don't believe he would have been out of line for snapping at Carton for asking about it. It's his mom and a radio host just asked how he felt about the fact that everyone thinks she's attractive. That's a really uncomfortable question to deal with that definitely crosses a few lines, but Wilson was smooth with it.

Many listeners and viewers of the clip above did not believe it was a good question by Carton and apparently criticized him so heavily he felt the need to respond. He claimed those slamming him for the question were just trying to be "woke" and going after him because he makes for an easy target, bringing up his prison stint as evidence that he is a victim here.

Carton went on to say he was obligated to ask Wilson about it because it was the biggest story in sports and interviewers who don't ask Wilson about his mother are bad at interviewing. He asks why nobody is going after the New York Post for publishing a pair of articles about Wilson's mom, and continued to insist he was just doing his job but everyone came after him because he's Craig Carton. He also said he would definitely do it again.

I'm not entirely sure getting a quote from Wilson about everybody's thoughts on his parent's attractiveness was worth all of this. But Carton has chosen this hill to die on, so defend it he will with every bone in his body.