New York meteorologist fired after using racial slur on air

[HenryChinaski]

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.​

I highly doubt that it was intentional but the station is covering their ass.

 

[Neomalthusian]

Lost his job. Was the misspeak intentional or not?

Absolutely not intentional. I'll explain why below.

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,"​

The person who wrote that should lose their job because that is sloppy and false journalism. He did not say "Martin Luther Coon Park." He said "Martin Luther Kun-King Junior Park."

The word missing from the sloppy fact-unchecked journalism is the word Junior.

Why does that matter?

That word Junior, which he said, but the media reporting on this are leaving out or failing to report accurately, is important, because combination of "King Junior" is how a person can accidentally say Kun- instead of King. The "un" phoneme in the word junior was the phoneme is what he jumbled by transplanting it into the word "King." Any linguistics academic or speech pathologist can understand how these speaking errors are made when reading text. They happen all the time when you're reading aloud. To read aloud fluently, your eyes read slightly ahead of the words you're actually saying and sometimes you accidentally transplant a phoneme from one word into the preceding word. This is why he said "Martin Luther Kun- (self-correction) King Junior Park.

The reaction from social media and others don't understand the basic linguistics of the error and, while it was unfortunate given the connotation, there is absolutely zero doubt in my mind this was a complete accidental utterance with zero racist intent whatsoever.

But that's because I understand a tiny bit about how speaking errors occur, whereas the people automatically assuming racism apparently do not.​

 

[JasperL]

Absolutely not intentional. I'll explain why below.



The person who wrote that should lose their job because that is sloppy and false journalism. He did not say "Martin Luther Coon Park." He said "Martin Luther Kun-King Junior Park."

The word missing from the sloppy fact-unchecked journalism is the word Junior.

Why does that matter?

That word Junior, which he said, but the media reporting on this are leaving out or failing to report accurately, is important, because combination of "King Junior" is how a person can accidentally say Kun- instead of King. The "un" phoneme in the word junior was the phoneme is what he jumbled by transplanting it into the word "King." Any linguistics academic or speech pathologist can understand how these speaking errors are made when reading text. They happen all the time when you're reading aloud. To read aloud fluently, your eyes read slightly ahead of the words you're actually saying and sometimes you accidentally transplant a phoneme from one word into the preceding word. This is why he said "Martin Luther Kun- (self-correction) King Junior Park.

The reaction from social media and others don't understand the basic linguistics of the error and, while it was unfortunate given the connotation, there is absolutely zero doubt in my mind this was a complete accidental utterance with zero racist intent whatsoever.

But that's because I understand a tiny bit about how speaking errors occur, whereas the people automatically assuming racism apparently do not.

I could accept that answer as plausible. Seems like what the employer should do is evaluate it as part of an overall picture of the employee. We don't know if they did that or just reacted like they did to CYA. I agree with one of King's daughters who said that firing is probably too far, but that there have to be consequences, suspension, training, whatever.

Because the problem is racists and bigots DO refer to him and roads and parks named after him as Martin Luther "Coon" - it's an easily substituted racial slur. We have an MLK, Jr. drive in Knoxville, and it's in a black part of town, and over the past 50 years I've heard it referred to in non-slip situations as Martin Luther Coon Dr. many times, by bigots, who thought it was a funny slur.

 

[Neomalthusian]

I could accept that answer as plausible. Seems like what the employer should do is evaluate it as part of an overall picture of the employee. We don't know if they did that or just reacted like they did to CYA. I agree with one of King's daughters who said that firing is probably too far, but that there have to be consequences, suspension, training, whatever.

No, there don't have to be consequences. This was as innocent an error is tripping over a piece of carpet. They are in the business of speaking the news to the masses, the production of speech should be well within their level of understanding. It doesn't take a Linguistics PhD to understand how, when reading aloud, the phonemes from one word can be transposed in speech to the preceding words. That is because in order to read fluently, your eyes have to be scanning to the next words before you actually speak the words coming out of your mouth. If you didn't do that, your word accuracy would be perfect, but you'd read as slow and staccato as a 1st grader does -- one word at a time.

I can partially forgive the absolute morons all over social media for being complete idiots as to linguistics and speech production. I do not at all forgive the guy's employers who despite conducting an "investigation" into this, didn't comprehend how the speech error occurred, and I also cannot at all forgive the major media sources for repeatedly misquoting the guy's literal speech in a very critical way.

Because the problem is racists and bigots DO refer to him and roads and parks named after him as Martin Luther "Coon" - it's an easily substituted racial slur.

If what were on his teleprompter were "Martin Luther King Park," there would be basically no plausible non-racist explanation for substituting "Coon" for "King." But "Martin Luther King Park" was not what was on his teleprompter. It was "Martin Luther King Junior Park."

That is why it's so inexcusable that all the major media sources are blatantly misquoting him. This all revolves around two words, and they couldn't even quote those two words correctly. Given this guy's entire career revolves around those two words, it's not pedantic to say those two words that he spoke being quoted correctly is paramount, and so there is no excuse for the major media sources to be repeating this misquote over and over again.

 

[JustHanging]

No, there don't have to be consequences.

IMO one of the most basic expectations of a newscaster is "able to read the news without blurting out racial slurs".

Whether by accident, or whatever, this newscaster was unable to meet this expectation.

 

[RockyRacoon]

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)

Luther and Coon are. I can see how it happened. I agree that it was an overreaction.

By the way. My handle is a reference to a Beatles song, just to mitigate any confusion.

 

[JasperL]

No, there don't have to be consequences. This was as innocent an error is tripping over a piece of carpet. They are in the business of speaking the news to the masses, the production of speech should be well within their level of understanding. It doesn't take a Linguistics PhD to understand how, when reading aloud, the phonemes from one word can be transposed in speech to the preceding words. That is because in order to read fluently, your eyes have to be scanning to the next words before you actually speak the words coming out of your mouth. If you didn't do that, your word accuracy would be perfect, but you'd read as slow as a 1st grader.

You have no way of knowing if it was an innocent error, or a slip resulting from him occasionally or regularly referring to MKL as Martin Luther Coon, Jr. You don't put your location, but where I live it's a common slur, and What Would a Racist Say is answered with "Martin Luther Coon, Jr."

If what were on his teleprompter were "Martin Luther King Park," there would be almost no plausible non-racist explanation for substituting "Coon" for "King." But "Martin Luther King Park" was not what was on his teleprompter. It was "Martin Luther King Junior Park."

That is why it's so inexcusable that all the major media sources are blatantly misquoting him. This all revolves around two words, and they couldn't even quote those two words correctly. Given this guy's entire career revolves around those two words, it's not pedantic to say those two words that he spoke being quoted correctly is paramount, and so there is no excuse for the major media sources to be repeating this misquote over and over again.

First of all, I don't know what was on his teleprompter, if anything, and I doubt if you do either.

Not all are misquoting him - e.g. https://www.washingtonpost.com/weat...ys-it-was-an-accident/?utm_term=.f975280e580c including the Rochester Association of Black Journalists

And I can't help it that the alleged slip of the tongue is ALSO a very common racist/bigoted slur, uttered likely every day and many times a day by bigots and racists when referring to MLK, Jr. or things named after him. It just is, and employers recognizing this are in fact being RATIONAL.

I don't know what you want. I've said the guy shouldn't be evaluated on this one incident, but that it's looked at in context of his career there, and if it's otherwise good, some consequences but keeping his job is completely acceptable to me.

 

[Sampson Simpson]

A little harsh, he immediately said the correct thing. Although, was it a Freudian slip? it would be so unlucky to throw out a racist term as a mispeak.

 

[JasperL]

Luther and Coon are. I can see how it happened. I agree that it was an overreaction.

By the way. My handle is a reference to a Beatles song, just to mitigate any confusion.

It's also the name of a pretty great home brew, made with honey.

I probably made a couple dozen home brews and that was the only one that was far BETTER than what I could buy at the store. It was tough sometimes finding natural honey (store bought stuff sometimes has preservatives that prevent proper fermentation, or that's the story....), but otherwise simple and excellent! eace

 

[Neomalthusian]

IMO one of the most basic expectations of a newscaster is "able to read the news without blurting out racial slurs".

Whether by accident, or whatever, this newscaster was unable to meet this expectation.

How easy for you to say. Start a news station and make perfect speech the #1 most basic job requirement. Good luck retaining reporters and anchors.

 

[Neomalthusian]

You have no way of knowing if it was an innocent error, or a slip resulting from him occasionally or regularly referring to MKL as Martin Luther Coon, Jr. You don't put your location, but where I live it's a common slur, and What Would a Racist Say is answered with "Martin Luther Coon, Jr."

First of all, I don't know what was on his teleprompter, if anything, and I doubt if you do either.

We can easily assume that what was on the teleprompter was what he said. And he said the word "Junior." The media reporting on this are frequently omitting the word "Junior" and thereby misquoting him. That is important because the word "Junior" contains the phoneme that was transposed into the word "King."

This common speech error is called a transposition. If it weren't for him stopping and catching his error immediately, and he had continued on to attempt to say "Junior," the transposition would have been something like "Kun Jing-yur" instead of "King Junior." That's what a transposition is. It happens all the time, because when we're reading aloud or thinking about the word we're going to say next, sometimes we transpose a phoneme from a subsequent word into a preceding word.

And I can't help it that the alleged slip of the tongue is ALSO a very common racist/bigoted slur, uttered likely every day and many times a day by bigots and racists when referring to MLK, Jr. or things named after him. It just is, and employers recognizing this are in fact being RATIONAL.

I don't know what you want. I've said the guy shouldn't be evaluated on this one incident, but that it's looked at in context of his career there, and if it's otherwise good, some consequences but keeping his job is completely acceptable to me.

I'm not digging into you personally. It just pisses me off to see people's careers ruined by race-baiting mod mentalities, incompetent journalism misquoting the guy, and a news station incapable of understanding basic speech errors despite "conducting an investigation."

 

[RockyRacoon]

It's also the name of a pretty great home brew, made with honey.

I probably made a couple dozen home brews and that was the only one that was far BETTER than what I could buy at the store. It was tough sometimes finding natural honey (store bought stuff sometimes has preservatives that prevent proper fermentation, or that's the story....), but otherwise simple and excellent! eace

Thanks for the info. A couple of friends and I have a little home brewing club. We just made a batch of coffee stout last weekend. This one sounds like a great Summer recipe. We have a local farmers market that sells honey. We’ll have to give it a try.

 

[JasperL]

We can easily assume that what was on the teleprompter was what he said. And he said the word "Junior." The media reporting on this are omitting the word "Junior." That is important because the word "Junior" contains the phoneme that was transposed into the word "King."

I'm not a TV news expert, but from what I've seen the weather guys do quite a bit of freewheeling when talking about the various locations. Here he had a picture of the park that's in his local area with a camera on it that he likely regularly accesses as part of his regular broadcast. Does he need that typed out for him? I don't know and you don't either.

And you clipped and ignored where I pointed out that some of the 'major media' including the local association of black broadcasters and therefore anyone linking to their statement got the story CORRECT, and the employer can simply watch the video, which I'm sure they did a dozen times or more.
:roll:

These common speech error is called a transposition. If it weren't for him stopping and catching his error immediately, and he had continued on to attempt to say "Junior," the transposition would have been something like "Kun Jing-yur" instead of "King Junior."

I'm not digging into you personally. It just pisses me off to see people's careers ruined by mod mentalities, incompetent journalism misquoting the guy, and a news station incapable of understanding basic speech errors despite "conducting an investigation."

And what you're completely failing to accept is the slur as a slur is in fact COMMON, and not a misspeak. That's a fact of life and a DIRECT cause of his firing. The question for the employer is whether this COMMON racist slur was a slip of the tongue or perhaps more akin to a Freudian slip of a guy who uses the racist term in his private life. If it was NOT a common racist slur, their job would be much, much, much easier. But it is common, and you need to accept that as part of the equation here, because that matters. It also sure as hell matters to those in the audience hearing him, because they've heard the slur intended as a slur many, many times.

 

[JasperL]

Thanks for the info. A couple of friends and I have a little home brewing club. We just made a batch of coffee stout last weekend. This one sounds like a great Summer recipe. We have a local farmers market that sells honey. We’ll have to give it a try.

You should. We did the simpler recipe from the Complete Joy of Homebrewing which is at that link, scroll down, and just used cascade hops, light malt, honey and yeast (our local store didn't carry Irish moss, so that was omitted). What was fascinating it we made it several times using a common dry yeast and it was good, then the local supplier talked me into a quality liquid yeast and the difference was shocking - much better. You probably know that if you've been doing it for a while, but it took side by side with that recipe to really believe that the yeast had that much impact on the flavor.

Lots of people expect the honey will make it somehow sweet, but it's not at all. The sugar in the honey is completely fermented into alcohol, so it's a "dry" beer if anything. Really good summer recipe. By far the best home brew we ever made. It's also true that the beer got better after a few weeks - we tried to wait a minimum of two weeks in the frig (or a cool closet below ground level) after bottling.

Good luck! I had to give up drinking and I miss messing around with home brew...

 

[Neomalthusian]

I'm not a TV news expert, but from what I've seen the weather guys do quite a bit of freewheeling when talking about the various locations. Here he had a picture of the park that's in his local area with a camera on it that he likely regularly accesses as part of his regular broadcast. Does he need that typed out for him? I don't know and you don't either.

And you clipped and ignored where I pointed out that some of the 'major media' including the local association of black broadcasters and therefore anyone linking to their statement got the story CORRECT, and the employer can simply watch the video, which I'm sure they did a dozen times or more.

And what you're completely failing to accept is the slur as a slur is in fact COMMON, and not a misspeak. That's a fact of life and a DIRECT cause of his firing. The question for the employer is whether this COMMON racist slur was a slip of the tongue or perhaps more akin to a Freudian slip of a guy who uses the racist term in his private life. If it was NOT a common racist slur, their job would be much, much, much easier. But it is common, and you need to accept that as part of the equation here, because that matters. It also sure as hell matters to those in the audience hearing him, because they've heard the slur intended as a slur many, many times.

I'm not "failing to accept" that people have said "Martin Luther Coon."

I'll happily back up and stand corrected if any evidence at all whatsoever surfaces that indicates even a whiff of racism in this guy.

But from everything I've seen, this appears to be a histrionic overreaction to a simple and common speech error called a transposition by a throng of attention whores on social media, as well as a handful of emotionally overreactive morons on a city council immediately calling for the guy to be fired, in addition to the media repeatedly failing to accurately quote what the guy said.

If we're going to call for people to be fired, let's start here:

Whoever is responsible for writing and editing "Martin Luther Coon Park" as a quote of what the guy said should be fired for failing to make an accurate quote that was less than five words long. That's blatant incompetence.

The mayor and City Council be forced to resign for having directly contributed to trashing an innocent guy's career, because it shows extremely bad judgment, poor critical thinking, overreactive and unnecessary meddling, and/or lack of education on their part.

If they can call for an innocent guy to be fired because they're ignorant of English speech and linguistics, I can certainly call for them to be fired for being histrionic, melodramatic, meddling idiots.

 

[MateoMtnClimber]

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.​

I'm quite sensitive to discriminatory slurs, but firing him seems dramatic to me.

 

[RockyRacoon]

I'm quite sensitive to discriminatory slurs, but firing him seems dramatic to me.

Agreed. I can’t believe the station had such a knee-jerk reaction to this. Maybe the guy was known to make similar remarks in private. I can definitely understand making this mistake. King is bookended by Luther and Junior both of which have the oo sound. Seems like an honest pronunciation error...unless, they found something more nefarious in his past that they were afraid might surface.

 

[TU Curmudgeon]

Absolutely not intentional. I'll explain why below.



The person who wrote that should lose their job because that is sloppy and false journalism. He did not say "Martin Luther Coon Park." He said "Martin Luther Kun-King Junior Park."

The word missing from the sloppy fact-unchecked journalism is the word Junior.

Why does that matter?

That word Junior, which he said, but the media reporting on this are leaving out or failing to report accurately, is important, because combination of "King Junior" is how a person can accidentally say Kun- instead of King. The "un" phoneme in the word junior was the phoneme is what he jumbled by transplanting it into the word "King." Any linguistics academic or speech pathologist can understand how these speaking errors are made when reading text. They happen all the time when you're reading aloud. To read aloud fluently, your eyes read slightly ahead of the words you're actually saying and sometimes you accidentally transplant a phoneme from one word into the preceding word. This is why he said "Martin Luther Kun- (self-correction) King Junior Park.

The reaction from social media and others don't understand the basic linguistics of the error and, while it was unfortunate given the connotation, there is absolutely zero doubt in my mind this was a complete accidental utterance with zero racist intent whatsoever.

But that's because I understand a tiny bit about how speaking errors occur, whereas the people automatically assuming racism apparently do not.

Thank you for a very lucid explanation of "Spoonerisms" - which will, of course, be completely ignored by those who want to make as big a thing out of it as the Canadian Broadcorping Castration made over its announcer's error.