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Lost his job. Was the misspeak intentional or not?
New York meteorologist fired after using racial slur on air
A television station in Rochester, New York, fired a meteorologist Sunday after he used a racial slur on air. During WHEC-TV's Friday evening broadcast, Jeremy Kappell said "Martin Luther Coon Park," when referring to a downtown Rochester park named after slain civil rights movement leader Martin Luther King Jr. In a video viewed by CNN, Kappell says "King" immediately after using the slur and continues with the broadcast.
"What happened on Friday, to me, it's a simple misunderstanding. If you watch me regularly you know that I tend to contain a lot of information in my weather cast, which forces me to speak fast and unfortunately I spoke a little too fast when I was referencing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. So fast to the point where I jumbled a couple of words. In my mind I knew I mispronounced, but there was no malice. I had no idea the way it came across to many people," he said in a video posted to Facebook Monday night.
Lost his job. Was the misspeak intentional or not?
New York meteorologist fired after using racial slur on air
A television station in Rochester, New York, fired a meteorologist Sunday after he used a racial slur on air. During WHEC-TV's Friday evening broadcast, Jeremy Kappell said "Martin Luther Coon Park," when referring to a downtown Rochester park named after slain civil rights movement leader Martin Luther King Jr. In a video viewed by CNN, Kappell says "King" immediately after using the slur and continues with the broadcast.
"What happened on Friday, to me, it's a simple misunderstanding. If you watch me regularly you know that I tend to contain a lot of information in my weather cast, which forces me to speak fast and unfortunately I spoke a little too fast when I was referencing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. So fast to the point where I jumbled a couple of words. In my mind I knew I mispronounced, but there was no malice. I had no idea the way it came across to many people," he said in a video posted to Facebook Monday night.
That kind of slip-up illustrates why anyone who gets a job on the air has to stop all swearing in their private life. They all know that if you swear at home sooner or later you'll slip up and swear on the air. That guy probably routinely referred to that park like that in his private life.
Is that enough to get fired? In the overheated atmosphere today, I guess it is.
Overreaction. Let him apologize, and if it happens again, suspend him. What happened to 3 strikes? It was a slip of the tongue, not a racist rant.
Yes because Coon and King are so close in pronunciation and meaning that people mix them up regularly (well at least those that refer to black people as coons)
They both start with a hard K sound.
Its complete overreaction. There are thousands of news-reel videos on youtube jam packed of people saying the wrong word that has no contextual meaning.
Exactly
The guy either referred to the park that way or to Martin Luther King that way in his private life. That is the only way such a slip up would have occurred
Lost his job. Was the misspeak intentional or not?
New York meteorologist fired after using racial slur on air
A television station in Rochester, New York, fired a meteorologist Sunday after he used a racial slur on air. During WHEC-TV's Friday evening broadcast, Jeremy Kappell said "Martin Luther Coon Park," when referring to a downtown Rochester park named after slain civil rights movement leader Martin Luther King Jr. In a video viewed by CNN, Kappell says "King" immediately after using the slur and continues with the broadcast.
"What happened on Friday, to me, it's a simple misunderstanding. If you watch me regularly you know that I tend to contain a lot of information in my weather cast, which forces me to speak fast and unfortunately I spoke a little too fast when I was referencing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. So fast to the point where I jumbled a couple of words. In my mind I knew I mispronounced, but there was no malice. I had no idea the way it came across to many people," he said in a video posted to Facebook Monday night.
Yes because Coon and King are so close in pronunciation and meaning that people mix them up regularly (well at least those that refer to black people as coons)
Lost his job. Was the misspeak intentional or not?
New York meteorologist fired after using racial slur on air
A television station in Rochester, New York, fired a meteorologist Sunday after he used a racial slur on air. During WHEC-TV's Friday evening broadcast, Jeremy Kappell said "Martin Luther Coon Park," when referring to a downtown Rochester park named after slain civil rights movement leader Martin Luther King Jr. In a video viewed by CNN, Kappell says "King" immediately after using the slur and continues with the broadcast.
"What happened on Friday, to me, it's a simple misunderstanding. If you watch me regularly you know that I tend to contain a lot of information in my weather cast, which forces me to speak fast and unfortunately I spoke a little too fast when I was referencing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. So fast to the point where I jumbled a couple of words. In my mind I knew I mispronounced, but there was no malice. I had no idea the way it came across to many people," he said in a video posted to Facebook Monday night.
Lost his job. Was the misspeak intentional or not?
New York meteorologist fired after using racial slur on air
A television station in Rochester, New York, fired a meteorologist Sunday after he used a racial slur on air. During WHEC-TV's Friday evening broadcast, Jeremy Kappell said "Martin Luther Coon Park," when referring to a downtown Rochester park named after slain civil rights movement leader Martin Luther King Jr. In a video viewed by CNN, Kappell says "King" immediately after using the slur and continues with the broadcast.
"What happened on Friday, to me, it's a simple misunderstanding. If you watch me regularly you know that I tend to contain a lot of information in my weather cast, which forces me to speak fast and unfortunately I spoke a little too fast when I was referencing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. So fast to the point where I jumbled a couple of words. In my mind I knew I mispronounced, but there was no malice. I had no idea the way it came across to many people," he said in a video posted to Facebook Monday night.
Lost his job. Was the misspeak intentional or not?
New York meteorologist fired after using racial slur on air
A television station in Rochester, New York, fired a meteorologist Sunday after he used a racial slur on air. During WHEC-TV's Friday evening broadcast, Jeremy Kappell said "Martin Luther Coon Park," when referring to a downtown Rochester park named after slain civil rights movement leader Martin Luther King Jr. In a video viewed by CNN, Kappell says "King" immediately after using the slur and continues with the broadcast.
"What happened on Friday, to me, it's a simple misunderstanding. If you watch me regularly you know that I tend to contain a lot of information in my weather cast, which forces me to speak fast and unfortunately I spoke a little too fast when I was referencing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. So fast to the point where I jumbled a couple of words. In my mind I knew I mispronounced, but there was no malice. I had no idea the way it came across to many people," he said in a video posted to Facebook Monday night.
It would appear he didn't intentionally do it. I mean, who does that on air on a weather forecast? There used to be a famous montage of ****ed up on air comments. I remember one correspondent saying "breast" instead of "best" and whatever they were discussing, breast was totally the wrong word.
But he said it and unfortunately for him, he paid a price.
My mother worked in journalism and these folks would NEVER cuss in their private lives because they were terrified of it making a slip into their vocabulary on air. As someone said earlier, it's possible it is a part of his diction regular enough to have been a slip into on-air time.
Seems ridiculous to fire him over what is likely a slip of the tongue. I've watched youtube videos where anchors say all kinds of crazy stuff. To read into it as "what they really mean" is pure speculation and really unfair.
It doesn't make any sense to suppose he did it on purpose, true. You get rightly fired for that **** these days. Or should. But I don't see how it's accidental and innocent. I wouldn't want to hire such a person even if they kept their racism to themselves during the workday.
I agree that it may have been a slip of the tongue.
But in my opinion one of the most basic expectations of a newscaster is "able to read the news without blurting out racist slurs". Clearly this person could not meet this expectation, and thus should not keep their job.
Yeah, I guess now that I think about it more, that's a little too strange. To say "coon" with MLK's name is probably too much to let go.
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