Bad Language?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

He claims that "I just want to say that I did not say the word gay, I was trying to pronounce the London Marathon winners name Tsegaye Kebede." But there is no there's no sign of any "Tse," and the clip starts a few seconds before he says "gay". He is either a homophobe or woefully incompetent. Either way he shouldn't be on the air. Actions have consequences.

[Jude]

I went back a couple of pages to get some context and saw one of the best features the internet has to offer - vison holding forth about language

(I also see that she committed one of the gaffes she used to rail against and I immediately wanted to call her up and ask if she did it deliberately. *sigh* )

[anthriel]

I guess that's my point. He thought his professional situation started a hairsbreadth after it actually did.

He probably wouldn't have chosen to speak like this during the actual broadcast, if he had been a bit more in tune to the clock.

I definitely see your point. My gut reaction is that even though he wasn't on the air, he was fully aware that there were multiple cameras in the room, and so he should have been more professional regardless. But I don't really know the social etiquette of newsrooms.

Well, I'm not sure I can argue that he has much of a future in front of the camera. You are right, he should have been more aware of where he was.

My point is that people who are in the habit of language like this... and yes, "gay" is used a lot, unfortunately, and that word is also a habit... might just be caught when someone is "listening" and held accountable for what they say, as if they were saying it with intent.

I don't think (I can't imagine!) that he MEANT to say any of that on the air. He was unprepared, unaware, a rookie, and apparently had a bad habit of casually using profane (although hardly unusual) language. Should he be fired for using the words "gay f'in s" in his private life, or solely because he was accidentally caught saying it on the air?

He got caught appearing unprofessional in his professional debut, and was (understandably) held accountable for his words.

I agree with Jewel; he seems unprepared for his debut, and that is a problem in itself. The language issue going on air is just too bad.

[JewelSong]

I would think that, this being his professional debut, he would have been on his very best behavior - ready and waiting for the cameras to roll! He had to have known that the "on air" time was going to be any second. Yet he is looking distractedly down at the papers in front of him and swearing to himself. Out loud.

Perhaps another line of work might be in order.

[anthriel]

I would think that, this being his professional debut, he would have been on his very best behavior - ready and waiting for the cameras to roll! He had to have known that the "on air" time was going to be any second. Yet he is looking distractedly down at the papers in front of him and swearing to himself. Out loud.

Perhaps another line of work might be in order.

Yes, I agree. I'm not sure I can argue that he has much of a future in front of the camera. You are right, he should have been more aware of where he was. He was unprepared, unaware, obviously a rookie.

My point (which I am so laboring to make, here) is that his rookie mistake of not knowing the mic was on (many people, even seasoned speakers, have made that mistake, and it cannot be unusual for rookies) was terribly magnified by the language he was casually engaging in at the time of the mistake.

If his casual, habitual words were less profane, this wouldn't have happened to him.

[yovargas]

Playing devil's advocate:


"...the court has ruled against you and denied you custody of your children......You're live in 5...4....3...."

[JewelSong]

Playing devil's advocate:

"...the court has ruled against you and denied you custody of your children......You're live in 5...4....3...."

Yeah, fine. Only there has been NO indication of anything like that happening. If something like that had been the case, don't you think he would have mentioned it in his numerous tweets? Or at least said, "I had just received some very bad/shocking/upsetting news?"

Instead, he stated that he was trying to figure out how to pronounce something...some name that apparently sounded like "gay" - right before he says "f***ing sh*t."

I don't have much sympathy for him.

[yovargas]

I don't know how you look at that and don't think something very strange is happening with him. That was way beyond nerves or being unprepared. Meh.

[Dave_LF]

My take is that he was very nervous to begin with, then at the last second realized he didn't know how to pronounce the name on the thing he was already nervous about reading. He panicked and said what he said, then realized the mic may have picked it up, but he wasn't 100% sure and as a result didn't know how to act afterwards.

I wouldn't have fired him unless the politics of the situation gave me no other choice (as probably would be the case). I don't like a foul mouth, but I don't see it as a firing offense as long as it's kept under control when the cameras are rolling (or whatever the applicable analogy may be), and I'd be willing to cut a rookie a break or two on the second half of that (unless he was flaky to begin with, of course).

[JewelSong]

That was way beyond nerves or being unprepared.

Maybe. But to make a judgment like that, you'd have to know what he was usually like. Maybe he's just a total flake.

And as I said, if something WAS happening with him...well, I would think he'd have at least TRIED to explain it afterward. He didn't.

I think he's in the wrong business.

[anthriel]

Well said, Dave. I agree.

[JewelSong]

Well, AJ made Letterman's Top Ten list. What's that they say about no bad publicity?
http://www.eonline.com/news/410814/news ... -watch-now

And yov, as far as I can tell from reading the news stories about this, there was no precipitating incident. He was just very (very) nervous and unprepared.