Second news anchor says Martin Luther King racial slur on-air and wants to keep his job

[griojw id=”pGulh4vZ” playerid=”GqX43ZoG”]
 

In yet another case of déjà dumbass, a St Louis news anchor just had the same slip of the tongue as a Rochester weatherman and said “Martin Luther Coon Jr.” on air.

TV meteorologist fired after blurting out slur about Martin Luther King on-air

KTVI’s Kevin Steincross made the same on-air “mistake” that recently cost WHEC weatherman Jeremy Kappell his job by referring to the civil rights icon as a racist slur.

How does this keep happening?

Steincross has landed himself in hot water after he made the error during the Thursday 5am news segment on St. Louis University honoring Martin Luther King Jr. He has since apologized for making the major blunder, The Daily Mail reports.

He said during the 9am segment: “We have heard from a viewer about a mistake I made in our 5 am. newscast. In our story about the tribute to Dr. King, I unfortunately mispronounced his name.

“Please know I have total respect for Dr. King, what he meant and what he continues to mean to our country. This was not intentional in any way and I sincerely apologize.”

After the gaffe, a spokesperson for Tribune Broadcasting told the outlet that Steincross is “extremely upset” and deeply regrets what he said.

The representative added: “The Fox2 management team spoke to Kevin following the mistake and we believe that it was truly inadvertent and does not reflect Kevin’s core beliefs.

“We do not believe additional disciplinary measures are necessary.”

After cover-up trial, police officer who fatally shot Laquan McDonald to be sentenced

This comes just weeks after viewers of a Rochester television station were shocked when a meteorologist lobbed a racial slur about Martin Luther King Jr. during a weather segment.

While describing a local park named for King, WHEC weatherman Jeremy Kappell, uttered “Martin Luther ‘Coon’” before correcting himself.

“As a result of that broadcast, meteorologist Jeremy Kappell is no longer with News10NBC,” WHEC general manager Richard A. Reingold said of the termination, which took place two days after the incident. “We believe strongly in holding our reporters and anchors to the highest standard.”

Kappell says it was simply a misunderstanding and a few jumbled words.  In a message sent to Alan Majors, the viewer who first posted video of the slur, Kappell explained:

“I wanted to reach out to you and say thanks for bringing this unintentional, but terrible verbal blunder to my attention. I am both surprised and humiliated that those words could have stumbled out of my mouth.

“For the record, I have never in my life been accused of such a thing. However, for what it’s worth, it will probably cost me my 20 year career pursuing broadcast meteorology. It breaks my heart that my family will have to suffer as a result.”

The St. Louis County chapter of the NAACP weighed in on the mispronunciation Thursday, calling it “unacceptable and very disappointing” in a social media post.

It doesn’t look like Steincross will have to pay for his racist remark.

 

Mentioned in this article:

More About: