Weatherman in western New York fired after racial slur

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A television meteorologist in Rochester, New York, was fired for making a racial slur during a broadcast Friday, the Democrat & Chronicle reported Monday. However, Jeremy Kappell said he "jumbled a couple of words" and called the incident a "simple misunderstanding," the newspaper reported.

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During a weather forecast Friday on Rochester station WHEC that showed a live shot of the city's Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park, Kappell appeared to refer to the area as "Martin Luther Coon King Jr. Park," the Democrat & Chronicle reported.

WHEC general manager Richard A. Reingold confirmed Kappell's firing and apologized to viewers in a statement during Monday night's broadcast.

“These words have no place on News10NBC’s air, and the fact that we broadcast them disheartens and disgusts me; that it was not caught immediately is inexcusable,” Reingold said. “I regret that we did not immediately interrupt our broadcast and apologize on the spot.”

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Kappell has been the chief meteorologist since October 2017. In a video he posted to Facebook on Monday night, Kappell apologized and called the incident "a simple misunderstanding" and said he spoke too fast and "jumbled a couple of words."

“If you watch me regularly you know that I contain a lot of information in my weathercast which forces me to speak fast and unfortunately, I spoke a little too fast when I was referencing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.” Kappell said. “So fast that I jumbled a couple of words. In my mind I knew that I had mispronounced, but there was no malice, there was nothing I could have... I had no idea the way it had come across to many people. As soon as I mispronounced it I put an emphasis on King and had no idea what people could have interpreted that as and I know some people interpreted that the wrong way.”

Kappell said he was disappointed by his dismissal.

"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," he said in his Facebook video..

Cox Media Group