Rochester Radio: TV Meteorologist Fired For Alleged MLK Slur

Jeremy Kappell

A chief meteorologist at an NBC station in Rochester, NY was fired on Monday for allegedly using a racial slur during a live broadcast.

According to The NYPost, Jeremy Kappell, of WHEC-TV10, was describing a photo showing Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park when he allegedly uttered the offensive phrase.

“Martin Luther C–n King Jr.,” he said, according to viewers and local officials.

Video of the Friday evening broadcast went viral over the weekend and amassed more than 100,000 views.

Kappell has been trying his best to do damage control on Twitter, referring to the incident as a “verbal slip” — much like the one that ESPN’s Mike Greenberg had in 2010, though he was allowed to keep his job.

“Exact same flub,” Kappell tweeted on Monday. “And like Mike, I feel terrible for ANYONE who may have been offended by my unintentional bubbling.”

The Purdue grad claimed to have “never uttered those words” in his life, but NBC didn’t care. It gave him the boot following an internal investigation.

“As a result of that broadcast meteorologist Jeremy Kappell is no longer with News10NBC,” said station vice president and general manager Richard A. Reingold. “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. I regret that we did not immediately interrupt our broadcast and apologize on the spot.”



Local residents and activists had been calling for Kappell’s termination, as was Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren, who is black.

It’s a good thing we are all perfect. @JeremyKappell was tongue tied. All broadcasters have fumbled. I couldn’t agree with @BobLonsberry more on this one. @news10nbc https://t.co/29gTOrdzl2

— Deanna King (@Deanna_King) January 7, 2019

According to his LinkedIn account, Kappell worked at television stations in Texas, Mississippi, Kansas and Kentucky prior to arriving in New York. The Rochester Association of Black Journalists called his alleged language “completely unacceptable and contrary to all standards of broadcasting.”