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Weatherman Fired For Calling MLK Jr. “Coon” Sues City Mayor For Defamation
White folks got some nerve.
You probably don’t remember Jeremy Kappell, but Jeremy was fired from his job as a weatherman for WHEC in Rochester, New York after calling Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “Martin Luther Coon King Jr.” on live television. Jeremy says it was simply a slip of the tongue, but WHEC wasn’t trying to hear it and gave him the boot back in January after significant public outcry.
One of those in the public who was out-crying was Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren who called for the station to terminate Kappell in no uncertain terms via USAToday:
“It is beyond unacceptable that this occurred. There must be real consequences for the news personality involved and also for the management team that failed to immediately apologize and address the slur,” the statement from Warren and Scott said. “The individual responsible for the slur should no longer be employed at Channel 10.”
Welp, according to the Democrat & Chronicle, Kappell has filed a lawsuit against the mayor claiming that she defamed him in a Facebook post where she accused him of intentionally used a “racial slur” despite his defense to the contrary that it he simply botched MLK’s name. Here’s an explanatory statement he released via his website KappellWeather:
After almost a full year of deliberation the decision was formally made to file lawsuit against Mayor Lovely Warren with regards to her involvement in my termination at News10 WHEC and also the defamation created by her careless public accusations and unlawful demands for me to be fired. As a result, not only have I lost a job and potentially a 20 year career, but my family’s name has been permanently tarnished.
Because of her actions, my family and I have suffered greatly these past many months and unfortunately, she has taken zero responsibility and has shown no willingness to move towards a resolution. She left us with no other option.
Boo-TF-hoo.
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