Local meteorologist fired for racist remark

[Hayabusa Rider]

I don't know how you say that unless you associate with or watch/ spend time with a ton of people that do that normally so much that you desensitize it and it becomes casual talk.

I don't know how you say that change of a word in the middle of speaking it is something people who aren't racist are immune too. This guy is from my area and there is absolutely nothing to suggest that he has a racist cell in his body. If held to that standard you would have failed sometime in your life and you are racist.

Put the deck of race cards away for a proper situation, and this ain't it.

 

[yllus]

I don't know how you say that unless you associate with or watch/ spend time with a ton of people that do that normally so much that you desensitize it and it becomes casual talk.

Justice - even in the sometimes wild and wooly world of social justice - means taking appropriate measures for actions that are intentional, not merely accidental. I would not punish a man who speaks thousands of words on live TV every year for one unfortunate utterance if it was unintentional.

 

[Oyeve]

I'm sure Fox news will hire him.

 

[soulcougher73]

Unless he has a history of racial bigotry etc. Ill chalk it up to a slip of the tongue or mushing of two words together accidentally.

 

[DigDog]

Stop censorship

 

[pmv]

If he doesn't have a track record of such things it seems a bit harsh over one screw-up. Shame for him it happened in relation to an issue of particular sensitivity to (presumably) a good number of viewers.

On multiple occasions presenters here have made a spoonerism out of 'Jeremy Hunt, the culture secretary', making him the hulture secretary...among other things.

You do wonder, as it's happened at least half-a-dozen times, from respectable reporters of different political persuasions, whether there's just something about the guy...

 

[HomerJS]

If Republicans didn't have a history of these kinds of slips when they want to denigrate minorities outcome would have been different.

 

[LTC8K6]

If Republicans didn't have a history of these kinds of slips when they want to denigrate minorities outcome would have been different.

Fair people generally don't judge you by what others have done. They generally judge you only by what you have done.

 

[woolfe9998]

My inclination is to give him the benefit of the doubt. The TV station said they did an "internal investigation" before deciding to fire him. Maybe there's other evidence of racial bias. However, in the absence of other information, firing him over this seems harsh.

There's a video of him explaining himself embedded in this article:

https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/07/us/new-york-meteorologist-racial-slur/index.html

 

[kn51]

Regardless of the court of public opinion, his life is toast.

 

[Lanyap]

I heard a replay today. They should not have fired the guy. The answer was to immediately apologize before the end of the show. That allowed everyone to get worked up.

They should rehire the guy.

He knew he messed up saying the name after he flubbed it but I don't believe he realized how bad it may have sounded before the end of the show.

 

[96Firebird]

Looks like I can agree with most, it was an overreaction on the news station's end. I'm almost wonderong if they were looking for a reason to fire the guy, but he seemed to do a decent enough job the few times I did watch. It would mostly be at the end of the broadcast, since they were on before NBC Nightly News. He had a much bigger personality compared to the other weather guy, who is kinda awkward. And he would always push the station's stupid app...

I've read a couple advertisers have pulled out, I only know of one for sure from their Facebook post confirming.

As for the mayor, she is a real piece of work. Being investigated for campaign finance violations and instead of worrying about having one of the worst school districts in the state, she gives her input on this. I'm glad I don't live in the city of Rochester, and rarely visit it anymore even though I'm only 10 minutes away.

 

[Bitek]

I heard a replay today. They should not have fired the guy. The answer was to immediately apologize before the end of the show. That allowed everyone to get worked up.

They should rehire the guy.

Pretty shitty thing they did. Even if they rehire him, they left him hung out to dry and his career and reputation ruined in the aftermath of the firing.

This was hardly a Cosmo Kramer moment.

 

[woolfe9998]

Al Roker, who last year was very critical of Megyn Kelly for her "blackface" remark, defended the weatherman, saying it's easy to make verbal flubs during live TV.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/09/us/al-roker-defends-jeremy-kappell-meteorologist/index.html