New York: In an unusual live TV gaffe, a news anchor in the US abused on air during his debut broadcast and was suspended for making the mistake.
AJ Clemente was leading off his first newscast as the weekend anchor at KFYR, an NBC station in Bismarck, North Dakota, yesterday when he abused with his microphone on. He swore into his microphone, fifteen seconds into his first anchoring gig. The nerves probably got to him.
After Clemente opened his mouth, co-anchor Van Tieu continued with the newscast, introducing her news partner, the New York Post reported. "You may have seen our newest reporter AJ on North Dakota News, and he`ll be joining the weekend news team as my co-anchor," she said.
Clemente stumbled through his introduction and the ill-fated newscast continued with a story about an ATV crash.
The excitement faded by the close of the show, when Clemente Tweeted, "That couldn`t have gone any worse!"
The budding anchor was suspended following the newscast. News Director Monica Hannan later posted a statement online, writing, "We can`t take back what was said...All we can do at this point is ask for your forgiveness".
Tieu also apologised during the station`s 10 pm newscast.
This was Clemente`s first time anchoring and maybe his last.
PTI