Omaha radio personality Chris Baker was fired Wednesday after posting an offensive tweet about the Derek Chauvin verdict, The Journal-Star reports.
C. Taylor Walet III, area president for iHeartMedia in Nebraska, said Wednesday that Baker had been fired from NewsTsalk KFAB 1110 AM that afternoon.
Baker's tweet was "completely inappropriate and unacceptable," Walet said in a statement. "Please know that this does not represent our viewpoint or our values, and we take this situation very seriously. Accordingly, Chris Baker’s employment with our company has been terminated."
The tweet, posted soon after the former Minneapolis police officer was found guilty in the murder of George Floyd, who was Black, featured a GIF (file image) of four Black men wearing loincloths and body paint and dancing, possibly with spears in front of them. Above the picture was the proclamation: Guilty!
Reached by phone Wednesday, Baker said the image that accompanied his tweet was a "boomer Twitter moment."
"That's not me, that's not who I really am," he said.
Baker said he inadvertently selected the wrong image while doing multiple things at once: hosting his show, lining up guests and monitoring the unfolding news after the verdict. He said he tried to get the tweet taken down right away, but struggled to do so.
Asked if he thought the tweet, as it appeared, was racist, he responded:
"I don't know if that's a fair question. It's horrible, is what it was," he said.
Baker, who is known for lampooning others, said he didn't expect people to believe his explanation.
"I apologize for a stupid move. I apologize for the mistake."
Baker's tweet, which was deleted Tuesday evening but had been captured in screenshots, was roundly criticized as racist, with some people calling for the conservative talk show host to be fired and his advertisers to be boycotted.
At least two advertisers announced on Twitter that they had pulled their support from the show.
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