New York meteorologist fired after appearing to say racial slur on air

Was it jumbled words or a racial slur?

A meteorologist at a Rochester, N.Y., television station was fired after appearing to insert a derogatory term for black people between Luther and King when describing the city’s Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park.

WHEC chief meteorologist Jeremy Kappell claims he didn’t intend to say it and jumbled a couple of words. Station executives, the mayor and city council president believe Kappell’s slip was a slur, according to the Democrat & Chronicle newspaper.

“It is beyond unacceptable that this occurred,” Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren and City Council President Loretta Scott said in a statement. “There must be real consequences for the news personality involved and also for the management team that failed to immediately apologize and address the slur.”

Richard A. Reingold, the station’s vice president and general manager, said the station began to investigate the comment as soon as it learned of it. Reingold said calls from the mayor did not impact the station’s decision. The station believes “strongly in holding our reporters and anchors to the highest standard.”

The alleged slur occurred during a weather forecast on Friday.

“We learned about this Sunday morning … The minute we learned about it, we jumped on it,” Reingold said in a Monday statement. “We spent really all day yesterday investigating it, discussing it, reviewing it.”

Kappell said Monday that the incident was a misunderstanding. He criticized WHEC management for dismissing him so quickly.

“I know some people did interpret that the wrong way. That was not a word that I said, I promise you that. If you did feel that it hurt you in any way, I sincerely apologize,” Kappell said in a video statement posted on his Facebook page.

Madasyn Czebiniak is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Madasyn at 724-226-4702, mczebiniak@tribweb.com, or via Twitter @maddyczebstrib.