We all make little blunders at work, and usually, it's not that big of a deal.
But for those who read and report the news, the public nature of their screw-ups can not
only result in widespread internet mockery, it can sometimes earn them a pink slip, as
fans of Anchorman know all too well.
"From the entire Channel Four news team, I'm Veronica Corningstone."
"And I'm Ron Burgundy.
Go F--- yourself, San Diego."
It doesn't just happen in the movies, though.
Here's a look at some bloopers that got these real-life reporters fired.
Pensive performance
If you've ever been caught goofing off at work, daydreaming or picking your nose or
whatever, you probably just got treated to the gentle suggestion that you remove your
head from your rectum and carry on with your job.
Not so for poor Australian newscaster Natasha Exelby, who was fired after going to her happy
place and not coming back until the cameras were already rolling.
"ABC News, Mount Sylvia.
Now to sports with Meredith…"
News director Gavin Morris later backtracked on the anchor's dismissal, saying Exelby was
just being taken off the air but not actually let go.
For her part, Exelby sent out a tweet blaming her "mesmerizing pen."
How do you measure success?
Is there anything that matters more to a professional athlete than winning the playoffs?
Not according to Comcast Sportsnet reporter Susannah Collins, who insisted that the Chicago
Blackhawks were totally focused on the postseason despite some serious distractions.
"All-season-long they have been saying that this is the season that matters.
And despite the fact that they've had such a tremendous amount of sex—errr success
during the regular season..."
Three days later Collins was fired, supposedly for unrelated reasons, but it was pretty obvious
to everyone that her bosses weren't comfortable discussing Patrick Kane's love life.
When in Rome...
Most on-air mistakes are simple slips of the tongue.
But one reader for India's state media agency Doordarshan had a much larger problem.
While reporting on the visit of Chinese president Xi Jinping in 2014, she misinterpreted his
name...and read them as Roman numerals.
As far as international incidents go, this would seem pretty minor, but it was still
enough to get her fired, even though plenty of other news anchors around the globe have
struggled to figure out his name too.
(Various attempts at trying to say "Xi Jinping")
Celebrating an assassin
When Lebanese politician Walid Eido was assassinated in Beirut in 2007, not everybody was torn
up about it.
Least of all National Broadcasting Network anchor Sawsan Darwish.
"The anchorwoman then says…
"So why did it take them so long to kill him?"
"She cracks up laughing and her colleague joins in."
Then she doubled down by suggesting some new targets.
"Then the anchor says in reference to Anti-Syrian Parliament member Ahmed Fetfet."
"Fetfet should be next.
I'm counting them down."
Viewers were outraged, and Darwish was immediately fired … for three months.
Then NBN reinstated her, and she issued an on-air apology.
Here's hoping she doesn't try to incite and future assassinations.
Farewell, foulmouth
As the late local news broadcast wound down on KSN in Wichita, Kansas, on Saturday night
in December, 2013, anchor Justin Kraemer signed off with a version of the same closing tag
that pretty much every late night news anchor uses.
The end-of-broadcast music was playing, the cameras had cut away to a lovely view of the
city at night, and viewers were settling in for Saturday Night Live.
But then he pulled a move straight out of Ron Burgundy's playbook.
"Let's get the f--- out of here."
"Oh!
Great Odin's Raven!"
Kraemer lost his job two days after the Saturday night broadcast, getting the news first-thing
Monday morning.
For his part, he took his firing in stride, saying "I did something extraordinarily unprofessional.
It's something that's drilled into you from the minute you start in this business to always
consider the microphones hot."
"Tony did I just curse?
Are you kidding me?
S---!
I mean s---! Shoot!"
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