Now That’s A Bad First Day On The Job

Yesterday was supposed to be reporter A.J. Clemente’s first day as an news anchor at a North Dakota NBC affiliate.

It didn’t go so well:

NBC’s AJ Clemente had a pretty rough Sunday.

As the local North Dakota news anchor prepared for his debut on the network’s evening news program, he uttered some words that were considered pretty inappropriate for broadcast television.

“F—ing sh-t,” he was heard whispering into his mic as an announcer introduced the show. It was Clemente’s very first moment on air, and also his last for a bit of time. He was later suspended for using profanity and his coanchor, Van Tieu, opened up the 10:00 p.m. news hour with an apology.

Video (minor language warning):

Whoops.

Update:Clemente has announced on his Twitter feed that he has been fired.

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Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. CB says:

    Pretty ridiculous lapse in judgement. What the hell was he thinking?

    Then again, whats even more ridiculous is that this guy’s career is effectively over before it began because of two stupid (whispered) words.

  2. He was obviously talking to himself and didn’t realize that the mic was hot. Still, yea, dumb

  3. John Peabody says:

    Yes, the whole industry knows it’s an automatic termination. You are done. No chance for goodbyes, either. Try somewhere else.

  4. JWH says:

    Maybe he can get a job at HBO?

  5. Franklin says:

    It was very painful to watch him introduce himself even after the live mic problem. Is he the victim of a lobotomy gone wrong or something?

    I can forgive his co-host who stumbled, likely because she knew what just happened.

  6. Boyd says:

    I’m not sure where the bar is set for news anchors in North Dakota, but if that cut was representative of his performance, I’m of the opinion that he needed to be fired regardless of his faux pas.