I've yet to hear the audio, but from reading it appears to be just what he said, a slip of the tongue. Happens all the time even to the best speakers.

Is this really a reason to can someone and smear his name? I think people are over reacting on this.

I'd like to hear audio from the broadcast as typing it out makes it look intentional.

I don't know-I can see Kong being a slip of the tongue, but I don't see how "coon" would be.

Although you are right that the audio would be key here.

WHAT AN ASSHOLE !!

Can we compare this to Dan Rather who still has his job?

If the behavior is deliberate, it is irrational and therefore makes me think he has psych problems. However, most probably, it was just a slip of the tongue. It happens all the time. For example, Cruz Bustamonte, Lt. Gov., addressing the Black Trade Unionists with the "N" word.

The man had one of the easiest weather gigs in the country, and he blew it.

Amazing.

JM, think of it phonetically - Loo thur Keeng. Start saying King, accidentally say 'oo' instead of 'ee' and the g can get lost as your brain tries to overcorrect. I suffer from misspeaking all the time.

Just because a letter falls off of a marque doesn't mean Hardee's really is "Now Hiring All Shi ts".

I think when you dwell on not making a slip, it is instilled in your brain and you are more likely to say the offensive word.

a slip of the tounge? twice?! it appears Rob BlackHater, woops I mean Blair is a little predjudice. Ignorance is bliss.

As someone who speaks publicly on a weekly basis, the occasional slip of the tongue is normal unless one is following a script. You cannot imagine the slips I've made. I can't imagine wetherboy would say that intentionally. But if it was intentional, someone should go up and slap his momma!

The nonsense above about Loother and Coon is just that, nonsense. Unless the guy is a studderer (unlikely with a TV gig) he repeated the -oo- sound, not a slip or verbal typo.

But my real comment was this -
If you say something in private, it will come out in public. For that reason you should simply live as you want to be viewed AT ALL TIMES. Besides, your kids will wonder why you say something at home but then utter a different thing at the mall.

The same theory drives the notion behind who your friends are. If you hang out with the crows you can expect to be shot at, but if you surround yourself with positive, encouraging, (and I will add moral although it isn't the theme of my comment) people you will be pulled to that same level.

I think it was Samuel Clemmons who remarked that the best way to avoid getting caught in a lie is to always tell the truth. You never have to remember what you told to whom (or to whom you are talking to this instance, for the weatherguy).

BTW - I am curious, would you want to work in Vegas if you were a weatherman? Seems like the thrid or fourth string.
Can't pay very good, afterall, they could get my 10 year old to tell everyone it was sunny....
(I actually do know that the desert gets COLD in the winter, work with me here....)

Daniel, don't hurt yourself leaping to conclusions. Your response is why there is so much hate in this world - people react to things without thinking them through.

I screw up when speaking all the time. I'll be saying something and everyone will start laughing. I won't know why because my brain automatically corrected itself and I'm unaware of the misspeak.

I'm betting this is what happened. He misspoke. He didn't realize he had said a slur. It was brought to his attention that he said a racial epithet but because of the sensitivity of the word, he wasn't told what it was. Knowing he misspoke, he assumed he said "Kong" and appologized about it.

Again, without the audio it is going to be difficult to say for sure, but I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Sounds like a mid-60's slip also.

Joins "George's Bush" and "Osama Obama" as tounge slips of the fourtnight.

Judging by the photo, the late news was probably past his bedtime anyways. And what about that eye make-up??? Queer Eye for the Weather Guy?

But if it was intentional, someone should go up and slap his momma!

Why would one subject themselves to public ridicule and getting fired from their job? Which to me is some proof that it is most likely a slip.

The lynch-mob mentality of racial justice strikes again.

Now to fire all the rappers who have called another a "niggah".

What's more stupid than this being an issue is those who think there is an issue. They must be the Coons of all morons. oops, I mean King of all morons!

And I assume Ted Kennedy will be stepping down for calling Barack Obama 'Osama Bin Laden'? No? Because it's OK because he's a liberal? How's that work again?

This guy was on our local SMALL Northern california station until about two months ago.He did a morning programwith another person. The last six months he co hosted with an Asian woman. I never got the hint of any rasict tendencies.

But he is a professional Doofus Pretty Boy.I always got the drift he might be light in the loafers.Always a strange , weird ,demeanor.My wife and I occasionally watched because he seemed so "upbeat wierd" .When he dissaperad here we figured he got fired, never imagining he got another job.

What happened to giving someone the benefit of the doubt?

Our mayor regularly refers to suburbanites as 'apartheid practicing'. Happens so often, and in prepared speeches, that no one believes it's a slip of the tongue. He's still in office.

I once had a job which entailed occasionally paging other employees....one of whom was named Pena...

oy.

Isn't that a little like calling the new Congressman Obama "Osama?"

didn't someone do that recently????

Hmmm...?????

Jesus, this is just another case of liberal media gone too far. What will they fire people for next????

He's just a stupid cracker, we should move on.

Marp as a Sharble,

"Coon King" is certainly a slip. I'm sure he never intended to say it on air. But it sure came out easy, didn't it?

You go ahead and reserve judgement on the poor dumb bastard. I'm confident that clumping to jonclusions is warranted in this case.

Yes, it's possibly a slip of the tongue. If one regularly used terms like 'coon' in conversation with buddies the juxtaposition of that term in one's mind might easily lead to such a slip.... and the revelation of one's actual character and beliefs.

Come ON! There is no way this guy MEANT to say this! One would have to be a complete IDIOT!
I would have to hear the audio to see if it was a slip of one who is used to saying it. But let us give him the benefit of the doubt.
If he did say it, then he deserved to be fired.

Yes, give him the benefit of a doubt. Just the other day my boss asked how a project was progressing and I inadvertently flipped him off and said "What the f*ck is it to you, chrome-dome?"

I meant to give him the 'thumbs-up' say "A-OK"

Luckily, he's a lot more understanding than the nazis left-wing PC-police that fired this poor guy.

This may be a case like that of Jimmy Carter who, in his convention speech of 1980, referred to "Hubert Horatio Hornblower". And like Dick Armey, who referred to "Barney Fag". Their private habits came out in public, to their great embarrassment.

When you are in a responsible position, there is no such thing as a "slip up". I am a reporter for a major network and racial slip ups are not allow, regardless of your race.

The politically correct movement in this country is truly disturbing. Equality has somehow evolved into white guilt and automatic support for all things ethnic. Some of the posts on this topic highlight the point.
How any one can presume to be in this guy's head and say "Well, he was THINKING coon, and it slipped out" is absolutely absurd. Shit happens, get over it. Where is the guy who was truly offended by this "slip"? Is he white?

LJD,

The evidence that he was thinking COON is that he said COON. Feel free to ignore that which is slapping you in the face.

Did he say COON, or did he make a stutter that sounded like coon? Does any one know for sure, but him?

Would this be an issue if he had done so speaking about the King of England?

There is no way this guy is stupid enough to say Coon on the air- either knowingly or subliminally.

The left just needs another cross to bear. Get over it.

It doesn't matter if this was an honest slip or a freudian slip. That's the sort of thing you just know you're finished no matter what the second it drops out of your mouth. After saying that, the guy may have well put his mic down and just walked off the set.

I used to watch this guy (in Sacra-de-mento, for the entertainment value) mornings with my coffee until I could "find my legs".

As DOUG says, his manner was "upbeat weird", emphasis on the *weird*. I watched him just to see what doofus-ocity would escape his mouth next. I don't recall any serious slams, but I clearly remember his Asian co-host looking alternately nervous and stunned. He got himself into a number of verbal jams that he just squeaked out of, in apparent attempts to be funny. I always thought that if he got control of his flakiness, he just might make it national -- he had the personality: always "on", always smiley, always "up". (Northern CA is
f a m o u s for its meth labs, btw.)

I believe that this episode is just another example of his loose control over his own mouth, and not that he either uses the word privately or that he intended to say that. Figuring that he knows himself somewhat, I suspect that he was telling himself over and over before he went live, "Don't say 'coon'. Don't say 'coon'." .... and then he went and said "coon," just like you would expect.

Let's just give him the 'Aw Shit' award for the week and move along. (the award being named after the phrase a lot of us use after doing something stupid).

I was listening to the forecast when he made the slip, and I have since then heard it twice replayed on the radio. I am very sensitive when it comes to racial issues, but I think this guy is getting a raw deal. People need to listen to the tape before making judgement. Trust me, this guy is really annoying to listen to, but it was a total slip of the tongue. That word does not even come out of his mouth. Not only that, I heard the show is taped, so if he made the comment and realized he said someting wrong, don't you think he would have had that part cut?