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From now on, it's MLK park...

S

SirRoxalot

I know that this is a TV incident, but it seems to me that it could happen to anybody speaking extemporaneously and trying to work in a limited time environment...

Trying saying "Marting Luther King Junior Park" ten times fast - under pressure.

Is it possible it could come out badly - as it did for this guy?

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/n...cial-slur-on-air/ar-BBRXaGF?OCID=ansmsnnews11

He got fired. Whether it was before or after the station received a complaint from the mayor's office is open to interpretation. I also wonder if Martin Luther King Jr. would have demanded his head on a platter.

I don't know the guy. Maybe there's more to the story, but it looks to me like an honest mistake got jumped on by politicians and the "politically correct police".
 
Continuing this TV thread on a radio board - None other than Al Roker and Craig Melvin are coming to the defense of the fired weatherman. There's also a change.org petition with 30,000 signatures calling for his reinstatement. And at least one client pulled their ads from Channel 10.
 
It's the kind of thing that can happen to any broadcaster - radio or TV. Nice to hear that the NBC guys are doing more than local management did for the guy.

Meanwhile, be VERY careful saying fire truck or Friar Tuck. Avoid more hits, greatest hits, or today's hits. Mickey Mantle shall henceforth not be known as "The Mick." You may not watch the day go by at the market. You shall no longer refer to a musical style as "honky-tonk." Nothing will ever be referred to as **** & Span again. Ski shops shall refrain from advertising pole locks.

Meanwhile, pay no attention to the language used daily in the music on most CHR and Urban stations.
 
Yeah, I just read about this today. It’s made the AP national wire and Les Trent interviewed the guy. This is clearly a case of the mouth not working. You’ve got the “oo” sound in Luther and the “oo” sound in Junior. So, rather than King, it came out... well, I don’t even want to say the word because it’s so offensive. But I’m just as offended by the over-reaction by some in Rochester, who demanded his firing. Fired for an unintentional slip of the tongue. Man, for the grace of God go I. I once said “sh**** hall” rather than City Hall in a tongue tied moment. Quickly apologized and moved on. Nothing ever came of it. Yeah, I think I’ll be referring to MLK Park when I have to say it in the future!
 
Years ago, a WGR beat reporter nearly caused a four car pile-up on the Youngman when he reported a certain Sabres player would be out of the line-up due to a "slipped dick in his neck."
 
Somehow, I missed the day when an instructor in broadcasting school listed out all the words that someone might be offended by and which should be avoided. I was well past 30 when I found out this particular word was an epithet.

I assume the staff at Hubbard know this guy well enough to know if it was a malfunction or intentional. But unless Hubbard staff thinks there's a reason it would happen again, it seems a more appropriate discipline would have been a one week suspension and an on-air apology.
 
SirRoxalot said:
It's the kind of thing that can happen to any broadcaster - radio or TV.
Click to expand...

Oh, yes. And all of us have some kind of story.

In 1960 I was faced with the very few seconds between live net coverage of the Nixon-Kennedy voting and the hourly network newscast.

The live coverage ended several seconds late.

Hastily, I said, "Stay tuned for all the latest erection results..."

... and I realized what I had just said. Flustered, I sailed on into that iceberg which was the legal ID.

"... on WCUY, ninety-poo point pee, Cleveland Heights."

Fortunately for me, 1) nobody listened to FM in 1960 and, 2) we were in a two story building so I could not jump.
 
PTBoardOp94 said:
I assume the staff at Hubbard know this guy well enough to know if it was a malfunction or intentional. But unless Hubbard staff thinks there's a reason it would happen again, it seems a more appropriate discipline would have been a one week suspension and an on-air apology.
Click to expand...

Somebody ought to remind both the "sensitive" members of the audience and management of the old adage, "To err is human, to forgive, divine".

Otherwise, the end result is that anyone with a microphone will be afraid to say anything original, anything improvised, anything creative for fear of offending someone.

In my new "home" market, over Christmas I saw a live local TV report about Christmas shopping and the reporter said, "... and many are stopping at this bakery here on Palm Canyon for a classic Gingerbread... uh... Gingerbread person cookie!"
 
DavidEduardo said:


Somebody ought to remind both the "sensitive" members of the audience and management of the old adage, "To err is human, to forgive, divine".

Otherwise, the end result is that anyone with a microphone will be afraid to say anything original, anything improvised, anything creative for fear of offending someone.

In my new "home" market, over Christmas I saw a live local TV report about Christmas shopping and the reporter said, "... and many are stopping at this bakery here on Palm Canyon for a classic Gingerbread... uh... Gingerbread person cookie!"
Click to expand...

It's awful. Manufactured outrage combined with the politics of personal destruction.
 
Rob Piotrowski said:
While I agree with that point, in the 585 it's not that simple. Racism there has been more than a "sensitive" issue for decades now. Read this for some background: https://www.democratandchronicle.co...er-racism-lovely-warren-editorial/2547687002/
Click to expand...

I don't think it is simple anywhere. Humans have been involved in controversies based on race and religion since biblical times.

But some prejudices are real, and others are imagined.

And some people use those differences in perspective as a way to advance in society. Some do good by working for solutions, and some simply acquire self-serving power.

All of us who are in some way and in some place a "minority" have lived and felt this. But making one fearful of mispronunciations or using the wrong word in an era when "correct" language usage is changing so rapidly will not encourage dialogue and discussion; just the opposite will occur and barriers will become walls and walls will become oceans of distance between us.
 
And one of the most famous slip-up's of all:

"This is the Canadian Broadcorping Castration!"
 
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