Not sure how I feel about this one after hearing the weatherman's apology. It doesn't seem like he meant to say the word - and why would he do it anyways? This guy's life is ruined. Link - ( New Window )
This guy gets canned, yet I see TV shows like "Blackish" & "The Neighborhood" use the words like "Cracka", "honkey" & "White boy" freely & without ridicule... One for all, all for one - But my opinion is that we all need to STOP being so damn overly sensitive!!!
The reality though, keeping this pot stirred keeps folks like Al Sharpton current & feed$ their wallet$.
Yep how far the pendulum has swung back - Lebron James calls NFL owners "old white guys" with "slave mentalities" and not a peep from the media but this guy stutters and gets his life ruined. Fact that Al Sharpton even has a show on MSNBC after all the racist remarks he's made through the years shows what a double standard there is.
Interestingly, though I am on the other side, I find myself compelled by the argument that he is a private employee and judged to have done something that is offensive to many customers (argument made by owners re kneeling players).
This was an error made in a public setting for the private company.
So his firing, if truly an error in speech, may be hugely detrimental in this guy's ability to continue his career.
Interestingly, though I am on the other side, I find myself compelled by the argument that he is a private employee and judged to have done something that is offensive to many customers (argument made by owners re kneeling players).
That's a great comparison since the players also ended up on their knees by accident and have apologized for it, just like this guy
is that he was reading from a teleprompter which I imagine causes more fumbling over words than just talking.
I sympathize with victims of discrimination and hate who have not only faced the hate directly, but who also deal with subtle hate and have intentional bad actors who pretend that they aren't being hurtful. It must be beyond frustrating to navigate that constantly.
And when that happens, I understand why many are on edge and sometimes see the hurt where it might otherwise not exists. When legitimate victimization happens so often, it's easy to lose giving the benefit of the doubt.
But the solution cannot be an over-correction that punishes innocent people.
We are, but this is even beyond hyper sensitivity. This is pretending something happened that didn't happen. This is one of the grossest things I've seen happen in quite some time.
where there's a clip of a southern Mayor making this slip in a TV interview. I think it was a common slur in the day and probably still is in certain circles.
We are, but this is even beyond hyper sensitivity. This is pretending something happened that didn't happen. This is one of the grossest things I've seen happen in quite some time.
The greater point for me is that we really don't know either way, and therefore should look to some other available facts/evidence before taking him to the woodshed.
We know that a noise came out of his mouth that most people don't like.
-what was he saying? was he being otherwise aggressive, mean, or inappropriate in the words/tone/body language he used?
-Is there anything to suggest that he was using his platform to spread negative feelings/thoughts based on race?
-does he have any history of negative racial commentary / hate speech / insensitivity?
-what was his reaction afterward? Was he contrite / apologetic? Did he seem genuine?
There are likely a dozen other meaningful contextual questions that could be added to this.
The real shame is that we're too unwilling to actually be thoughtful about this, or worse yet, that we have thought about all of it and the virtue signal of firing the guy is deemed to be more valuable than the moral evaluation of whether the guy genuinely deserves to be fired.
He meant to say it, he misspoke, and he is secretly a racist and lets his inner alt-right loony shine through when he's not careful.
What weatherman would knowingly say a racial epithet on a local newscast? Nobody. He didn't mean to say.
There are plenty of secret racists out there, but does anyone really think he would subconsciously slip an epithet into MLK's name on a local newscast? Hard to believe.
Or did he get his tongue tied and misspeak, like hundreds of people before him on live television? I think this is clearly the obvious answer. He has a lot more in common with the "Boom goes the dynamite" guy than Steve Bannon. Come on, folks...
We are, but this is even beyond hyper sensitivity. This is pretending something happened that didn't happen. This is one of the grossest things I've seen happen in quite some time.
You must lead a very sheltered life then.
Of course!
RE: I don't rememer any other eras of divisiveness in this country Â
because I was too young (Vietnam, etc.) but did the mobs rule then too?
I don't remember seeing corporations or public facing organizations of any type cave so easily to mobs before.
Is it social media? Is it always this way in periods of divide?
just curious really.
Social media, without a single doubt.
Otherwise, you might get 6-7 calls (which are probably working in concert), and at MOST, the employee having 20 seconds during a telecast, mentioning it, apologizing for it, and everyone moving forward.
With social media, it a wildfire that builds with anonymous gas.
While everybody's judging here is there anyone familiar with this weatherman and this news broadcast ? For all anyone knows, this was strike 3.
My fellow old geezers should be able to remember a New York weatherman by the name of Tex Antoine. This guy regularly came on the air drunk as a skunk. Finally He cracked some joke that women who were being raped should sit back and enjoy it. That finally got him axed.
He meant to say it, he misspoke, and he is secretly a racist and lets his inner alt-right loony shine through when he's not careful.
What weatherman would knowingly say a racial epithet on a local newscast? Nobody. He didn't mean to say.
There are plenty of secret racists out there, but does anyone really think he would subconsciously slip an epithet into MLK's name on a local newscast? Hard to believe.
Or did he get his tongue tied and misspeak, like hundreds of people before him on live television? I think this is clearly the obvious answer. He has a lot more in common with the "Boom goes the dynamite" guy than Steve Bannon. Come on, folks...
I don’t believe he intended to say it however given that it is an epithet used to describe MLK, I understand why people are upset that he said it. Just as some posters here would be offended if a reporter accidentally said Ronald Retard Reagan park or George White Trash WBush park
facebook page to watch his apology and by all accounts he looks like a good guy, with a family, etc. Almost everyone is supporting him and those who know him personally from his time in Louisville and Rochester all talk about how great of a guy he is. If all that's true, it's pretty shameful that his life has been turned upside down by what seems like an innocent mistake. The social justice mob was quick to jump all over this one. Might be a record.
I don't think your examples fit here couldn't be anything other than choosing to slip them into the statements.
In this case, the alleged word "coon" or "koong" or "kun" is not only a word on its own, but also the sound made when transposing or jumbling the first syllables of consecutive words.
I think something closer would be a newcaster reading off a teleprompter "Senator Tom Smith said Congresswoman Wilson can't punt on the issues" and instead saying "Senator Tom Smith said Comgresswoman Wilson cunt-- can't punt on the issues."
I don't think your examples fit here couldn't be anything other than choosing to slip them into the statements.
In this case, the alleged word "coon" or "koong" or "kun" is not only a word on its own, but also the sound made when transposing or jumbling the first syllables of consecutive words.
I think something closer would be a newcaster reading off a teleprompter "Senator Tom Smith said Congresswoman Wilson can't punt on the issues" and instead saying "Senator Tom Smith said Comgresswoman Wilson cunt-- can't punt on the issues."
is that he was reading from a teleprompter which I imagine causes more fumbling over words than just talking.
I sympathize with victims of discrimination and hate who have not only faced the hate directly, but who also deal with subtle hate and have intentional bad actors who pretend that they aren't being hurtful. It must be beyond frustrating to navigate that constantly.
And when that happens, I understand why many are on edge and sometimes see the hurt where it might otherwise not exists. When legitimate victimization happens so often, it's easy to lose giving the benefit of the doubt.
But the solution cannot be an over-correction that punishes innocent people.
Well said Paul. This smells of over reaction. I’d like to see him get his career back. Wondering if the black leaders in the Rochester community would consider accepting his apology.
Now that guy was a piece of work. I'll never forget his rape-related "just lay back and enjoy it" comment.
He had to have been drunk on-air, not for the 1st time.
I was living in Texas when Clayton Williams tubed his election chances with the same "joke". Never heard of Antoine and don't know the dates, so I don't know who stole it from whom.
This isn’t the first on air incident when this slur was used for MLK. Mine Greenberg’s of ESPN said it in 2010. And some Googling seems to suggest this slur seems to be sadly common in racist circles to describe MLK or MLK Day (replacingKing with the epithet).
A couple of people have said that the slur combined with MLK's name is common.
In my 42 and have years living in Virginia and Florida, working and socializing with all kinds of different people, I have never heard this before. I don't run in racist circles, sure, I've heard some racist things from acquaintances before but never that.
I really can't believe he would get fired for what is clearly an innocent fumbling over words.
Only a shitty person wouldn't give someone like this guy the benefit of the doubt, especially given his extremely (and IMO, unnecessary) heartfelt apology.
trying to defend R. Kelly .... smh but hey let your true colors shine through.
Elaborate, Motown.
You think this guy is a racist and needed to have been fired? You think he said this intentionally? You think he apparently says racially charged things so often in his private life that he slipped?
What "true colors" are you referring to?
With respect, I'd like to have your full commentary, rather than a drive-by post.
I would love for that to happen.
And you know this how?
Quote:
How you say that by accident, obviously he has said it before.
And you know this how?
because he just knows!
I don't remember seeing corporations or public facing organizations of any type cave so easily to mobs before.
Is it social media? Is it always this way in periods of divide?
just curious really.
And you know that how? What a ridiculous comment.
I don't remember seeing corporations or public facing organizations of any type cave so easily to mobs before.
Is it social media? Is it always this way in periods of divide?
just curious really.
social media my man....it's all social media
Quote:
because I was too young (Vietnam, etc.) but did the mobs rule then too?
I don't remember seeing corporations or public facing organizations of any type cave so easily to mobs before.
Is it social media? Is it always this way in periods of divide?
just curious really.
social media my man....it's all social media
But like my brother in law pointed out to me when we had this conversation a week or two ago.... Don't blame the tech. Blame the users.
Quote:
In comment 14253947 pjcas18 said:
Quote:
because I was too young (Vietnam, etc.) but did the mobs rule then too?
I don't remember seeing corporations or public facing organizations of any type cave so easily to mobs before.
Is it social media? Is it always this way in periods of divide?
just curious really.
social media my man....it's all social media
But like my brother in law pointed out to me when we had this conversation a week or two ago.... Don't blame the tech. Blame the users.
oh absolutely.
The reality though, keeping this pot stirred keeps folks like Al Sharpton current & feed$ their wallet$.
Yep how far the pendulum has swung back - Lebron James calls NFL owners "old white guys" with "slave mentalities" and not a peep from the media but this guy stutters and gets his life ruined. Fact that Al Sharpton even has a show on MSNBC after all the racist remarks he's made through the years shows what a double standard there is.
Holy fuck.
Interestingly, though I am on the other side, I find myself compelled by the argument that he is a private employee and judged to have done something that is offensive to many customers (argument made by owners re kneeling players).
This was an error made in a public setting for the private company.
So his firing, if truly an error in speech, may be hugely detrimental in this guy's ability to continue his career.
Serious question - do you find that offensive?
But... Pandora's Box has been opened and there's no going back.
In comment 14253891 Jay in Toronto said:
Interestingly, though I am on the other side, I find myself compelled by the argument that he is a private employee and judged to have done something that is offensive to many customers (argument made by owners re kneeling players).
That's a great comparison since the players also ended up on their knees by accident and have apologized for it, just like this guy
I sympathize with victims of discrimination and hate who have not only faced the hate directly, but who also deal with subtle hate and have intentional bad actors who pretend that they aren't being hurtful. It must be beyond frustrating to navigate that constantly.
And when that happens, I understand why many are on edge and sometimes see the hurt where it might otherwise not exists. When legitimate victimization happens so often, it's easy to lose giving the benefit of the doubt.
But the solution cannot be an over-correction that punishes innocent people.
We are, but this is even beyond hyper sensitivity. This is pretending something happened that didn't happen. This is one of the grossest things I've seen happen in quite some time.
Quote:
this hypersensitivity bullshit needs to stop.
We are, but this is even beyond hyper sensitivity. This is pretending something happened that didn't happen. This is one of the grossest things I've seen happen in quite some time.
You must lead a very sheltered life then.
Holy fuck.
In all likelihood, yes, that's the explanation.
The greater point for me is that we really don't know either way, and therefore should look to some other available facts/evidence before taking him to the woodshed.
We know that a noise came out of his mouth that most people don't like.
-what was he saying? was he being otherwise aggressive, mean, or inappropriate in the words/tone/body language he used?
-Is there anything to suggest that he was using his platform to spread negative feelings/thoughts based on race?
-does he have any history of negative racial commentary / hate speech / insensitivity?
-what was his reaction afterward? Was he contrite / apologetic? Did he seem genuine?
There are likely a dozen other meaningful contextual questions that could be added to this.
The real shame is that we're too unwilling to actually be thoughtful about this, or worse yet, that we have thought about all of it and the virtue signal of firing the guy is deemed to be more valuable than the moral evaluation of whether the guy genuinely deserves to be fired.
What weatherman would knowingly say a racial epithet on a local newscast? Nobody. He didn't mean to say.
There are plenty of secret racists out there, but does anyone really think he would subconsciously slip an epithet into MLK's name on a local newscast? Hard to believe.
Or did he get his tongue tied and misspeak, like hundreds of people before him on live television? I think this is clearly the obvious answer. He has a lot more in common with the "Boom goes the dynamite" guy than Steve Bannon. Come on, folks...
Quote:
In comment 14253995 antdog24 said:
Quote:
this hypersensitivity bullshit needs to stop.
We are, but this is even beyond hyper sensitivity. This is pretending something happened that didn't happen. This is one of the grossest things I've seen happen in quite some time.
You must lead a very sheltered life then.
Of course!
I don't remember seeing corporations or public facing organizations of any type cave so easily to mobs before.
Is it social media? Is it always this way in periods of divide?
just curious really.
Social media, without a single doubt.
Otherwise, you might get 6-7 calls (which are probably working in concert), and at MOST, the employee having 20 seconds during a telecast, mentioning it, apologizing for it, and everyone moving forward.
With social media, it a wildfire that builds with anonymous gas.
"Martin Luther Koong-- King Junior Park" instead of
"Martin Luther Coon King, Jr. Park"
My fellow old geezers should be able to remember a New York weatherman by the name of Tex Antoine. This guy regularly came on the air drunk as a skunk. Finally He cracked some joke that women who were being raped should sit back and enjoy it. That finally got him axed.
What weatherman would knowingly say a racial epithet on a local newscast? Nobody. He didn't mean to say.
There are plenty of secret racists out there, but does anyone really think he would subconsciously slip an epithet into MLK's name on a local newscast? Hard to believe.
Or did he get his tongue tied and misspeak, like hundreds of people before him on live television? I think this is clearly the obvious answer. He has a lot more in common with the "Boom goes the dynamite" guy than Steve Bannon. Come on, folks...
Obviously -- clearly -- the guy was trying to say "King" and "Jun" at the same time.
The mayor of Rochester and whoever fired him at the TV station should be punted into the sun.
In this case, the alleged word "coon" or "koong" or "kun" is not only a word on its own, but also the sound made when transposing or jumbling the first syllables of consecutive words.
I think something closer would be a newcaster reading off a teleprompter "Senator Tom Smith said Congresswoman Wilson can't punt on the issues" and instead saying "Senator Tom Smith said Comgresswoman Wilson cunt-- can't punt on the issues."
In this case, the alleged word "coon" or "koong" or "kun" is not only a word on its own, but also the sound made when transposing or jumbling the first syllables of consecutive words.
I think something closer would be a newcaster reading off a teleprompter "Senator Tom Smith said Congresswoman Wilson can't punt on the issues" and instead saying "Senator Tom Smith said Comgresswoman Wilson cunt-- can't punt on the issues."
My examples? What examples?
I sympathize with victims of discrimination and hate who have not only faced the hate directly, but who also deal with subtle hate and have intentional bad actors who pretend that they aren't being hurtful. It must be beyond frustrating to navigate that constantly.
And when that happens, I understand why many are on edge and sometimes see the hurt where it might otherwise not exists. When legitimate victimization happens so often, it's easy to lose giving the benefit of the doubt.
But the solution cannot be an over-correction that punishes innocent people.
Well said Paul. This smells of over reaction. I’d like to see him get his career back. Wondering if the black leaders in the Rochester community would consider accepting his apology.
But... Pandora's Box has been opened and there's no going back.
The tech is simply what enabled the behavior. Technology is neither good nor bad. That is up to the people that use it.
Quote:
because I was too young (Vietnam, etc.) but did the mobs rule then too?
I don't remember seeing corporations or public facing organizations of any type cave so easily to mobs before.
Is it social media? Is it always this way in periods of divide?
just curious really.
social media my man....it's all social media
Yeah. I shudder to think that would have happened if they had social media back in Salem. People could have gotten hurt.
Or as many hear assert, he actually said "Martin Luther Kun King" by accidentally combining "King" and "Junior."
Context matters.
Even when writing, it's not difficult to transpose words or even miss one or two completely. If you catch my drift. Glass houses and all that jazz.
Quote:
the guy said martin luther coon king. i'm pretty that will get you fired anywhere regardless of why.
Or as many hear assert, he actually said "Martin Luther Kun King" by accidentally combining "King" and "Junior."
Context matters.
Impressive how you heard how it was spelled.
And I too miss our BBI Weatherman’s insight. C’mon back WM.
Of all the absurd takes I've seen on BBI, this is up there. Congratulations!
He had to have been drunk on-air, not for the 1st time.
He had to have been drunk on-air, not for the 1st time.
I was living in Texas when Clayton Williams tubed his election chances with the same "joke". Never heard of Antoine and don't know the dates, so I don't know who stole it from whom.
A couple of people have said that the slur combined with MLK's name is common.
In my 42 and have years living in Virginia and Florida, working and socializing with all kinds of different people, I have never heard this before. I don't run in racist circles, sure, I've heard some racist things from acquaintances before but never that.
I really can't believe he would get fired for what is clearly an innocent fumbling over words.
Only a shitty person wouldn't give someone like this guy the benefit of the doubt, especially given his extremely (and IMO, unnecessary) heartfelt apology.
Really this is all that even needs to be said.
Elaborate, Motown.
You think this guy is a racist and needed to have been fired? You think he said this intentionally? You think he apparently says racially charged things so often in his private life that he slipped?
What "true colors" are you referring to?
With respect, I'd like to have your full commentary, rather than a drive-by post.
I suppose you could have been kidding. Which would make the defending R Kelly comparison less ludicrous.