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| Jeremy Kappell, a television meteorologist in Rochester, New York, was fired after saying a racial slur on air. He says he flubbed his words, but those who support his firing say he still shouldn't have said it, and was not quick enough to apologize. |
The meteorologist in this story said he just jumbled up his words on air in this story, but plenty of other people said it was more than that.
During an on-air weather forecast for WHEC in Rochester, New York, now former Chief Meteorologist Jeremy Kappell was showing a live shot of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park. Kappell appeared to call it the "Martin Luther Coon King Jr. Park," according to the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle.
That "coon" is obviously a racial slur. After pressure from local race leaders, which led to pressure from Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren and City Counci Presidet Loretta Scott to have Kappell fired, the television station did so.
Chapel said the whole thing is a misunderstanding, that he didn't mean to say "coon," but he stumbled over his words and what sounded like "coon" came out.
"That was not a word I said, I promise you that. If you did feel that it hurt you in any way, I sincerely apologize," Kappell said in a Facebook post. "Martin Luther King Jr. came out way too fast," he said, so the whole name got screwed up, and the word "coon" was accidentally inserted during the flub, he explained.
He's also mad at the television station for firing him. "I am extremely disappointed at the decisions made by my television station, who I expected a certain level of support from and I did not receive at all," Kappell said.
The people who run WHEC are having none of that. "We believe strongly in holding our reporters and anchors to the highest standard," said WHEC General Manager Richard A. Reingold about the firing.
The station followed up with a statement saying, "An utterance such as this, with no immediate apology, regardless of intent, is unacceptable an inexcusable."
There is an audio of what Kappell said about 3:10 into this commentary video, in which you can clearly hear him say "coon."
"For tomorrow, Martin Luther Coon - King Jr day is going to see temperatures in the low 60s......" was what came out. From there in the broadcast, Kappell continued on with his forecast.
City officials, like Mayor Warren (who is black) said in a statement: "It is beyond unacceptable that this occurred. There must be real consequences for the news personality involved and also for the management team that failed to immediately apologize and address the slur."
On the other hand, some prominent black television news and weather personalities are coming to Kappell's defense. NBC Today Show host Craig Melvin said, "Anyone who's done this, as long as we've done it on air, you flub, you make mistakes. It would seem as if the guy made a genuine mistake."
Longtime NBC meteorologist Al Roker said in a tweet that he thinks Kappell "made an unfortunate flub and should be given the chance to apologize. Anyone who has done live TV and screwed up understands."
Inside Edition said Wednesday there are two competing Change.org petitions concerning Kappell. At broadcast time, an "I stand behend Jeremy Kappell" had received more than 33,000 signatures. A competing Change.org petition called "Do Not rehire Jeremy Kappell after his racist words" had just 12 signatures.
I know that's not a scientific poll, of course.
Hindsight is 20/20, but I wonder if Kappell would have saved his job if he acknowledged right after his on-air fumble that he screwed up and apologized right there.
What do you think?
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