TV Station KYFR fired a news anchor Monday after he dropped the “F-bomb” on live television, according to ChristianPost.com.
A.J. Clemente was only a few seconds into his first gig on KYFR—an NBC affiliate in Bismarck North Dakota—when he uttered the words “F****** s***” under his breath.
This wasn’t a slip of the tongue during a news segment or intentional disregard for proper broadcast TV etiquette. Clemente simply neglected to follow one of the most important rules in broadcast journalism.
Even if a segment of show has not started, if you are in front of a camera and have a mic on, you don’t curse. Once Clemente, and co-acnhor Van Tieu, realized that the gaffe had been aired for all to see and hear, their opening introductions were far from smooth.
"You may have seen our newest reporter A.J. on North Dakota News, and he'll be joining the weekend news team as my co-anchor,” said Tieu who stumbled to begin the introduction once she realized what had transpired.
Clemente’s follow up was even worse. He started by describing himself as a graduate from West Virginia University and said he was excited to be anchoring the show. However, his next eight words almost made no sense.
“I’m used to from being the East Coast,” he said.
He quickly attempted to evade the awkward moment by going into a story about an ATV crash. However, he couldn’t evade the consequences of his actions.
After the broadcast ended he tweeted, “That couldn’t have gone any worse!” Apparently, executives at the company thought the same thing.
Director Moncia Hannan said in a statement posted online: “We can't take back what was said … all we can do at this point is ask for your forgiveness."
At first Clemente was given a suspension.
"Tough day,Thanks for the support,We all make mistakes. Im truly sorry for mine. I'll try my hardest to come back better and learn from this," he tweeted Monday.
However, he later discovered there would be no return to KYFR.
"Unfortunately KFYRTV has decided to let me go. Thank you to them and everyone in ND for the opportunity and everyone for the support," he tweeted.
When the newscast aired again at 10 pm, Tieu was present by Clemente was not. She began the segment with an apology.
We were caught off guard and [Clemente] didn't realize his microphone was on. And while that was no excuse - we do train our reporters to always assume that any microphone is live at any time - unfortunately we cannot take back what was said. But, we do apologize and hope that you may forgive us and rest assured, that something like this will not happen again.," said Tieu.
The video of the mistake can be seen below (Profanity Used: Viewer Discretion is Advised)
