A Cleveland Fox 8 news anchor has been suspended for three days after using a racist term on the air. On Monday, Kristi Capel was reporting on the Oscars when she said that she appreciated Lady Gaga’s version of “The Sound of Music”—despite the accompanying “jigaboo music.”
“It’s hard to really hear her voice with all the jigaboo music—whatever you want to call it—jigaboo!” Capel stated.
Capel later apologized on Twitter for using the word, claiming that she had no idea what it meant.
https://twitter.com/Kristi_Capel/status/569931262934306816
According to Raw Story, Cleveland Fox 8 issued a statement Wednesday regarding Capel’s suspension. “Kristi Capel will not be anchoring Fox 8 News in the Morning for the remainder of the week,” the station said. The station also went on to defend Capel’s reputation.
“This incident has prompted thousands of social media comments and emails from across the viewing area and the nation. Unlike many who have commented, co-anchor Wayne Dawson and many of us at Fox 8 have the advantage of knowing Kristi Capel personally and her work in our community,” the station stated. “It is for that reason that we join with the pastors she met with on Tuesday to begin the process of forgiveness and healing.”
Capel is quite fortunate to have only received a suspension, especially since there’s a petition circulating that calls for her termination.
Pastors, though? Really? Did they lay hands on her and rebuke her racist tongue? This is just too much.