There’s been a social media storm growing over the weekend after WHEC Channel 10 aired a racial slur on its Friday evening newscasts. The station fired Chief Metorologist Jeremy Kapell on Sunday.
Kapell made the comment over a shot of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. park in downtown Rochester, inserting the offensive word into King’s name. It was condemned by the Rochester Association of Black Journalists, and by Rochester’s Mayor and City Council.
The station issued a formal apology Sunday after an investigation, saying comments of that sort have no place on the WHEC air. Station Manager Richard Reingold apologized again on the station’s Monday evening news, and said he learned of the incident only Sunday morning and “jumped right on it.” But Mayor Lovely Warren says the apology was too long in coming.
Warren called for area broadcasters to attend a National League of Cities National Day of Racial Healing on January 22nd.