Video After The Jump
WJW Channel 8 suspended anchor Kristi Capel for three days after she uttered a racist term on live television while sitting next to her Black co-anchor, Wayne Dawson.
Capel was discussing Lady Gaga's Oscar's performance on Monday, February 23, when she used the word "jigaboo" to describe part of it.
"It's hard to really hear her voice with all the jigaboo music, or whatever you wanna call it...jigaboo," she said while laughing.
Jigaboo definition via Vocabulary.com: (Ethnic slur) extremely offensive name for a Black person. A person with dark skin who comes from Africa (or whose ancestors came from Africa).
Kristi Capel
Capel would later issue an on-air apology, explaining that she had no idea what the word meant.
"I just want to take a moment to address a comment that I made yesterday that got a lot of attention," Capel said Tuesday. "It's important for me to let you know that I deeply regret my insensitive comment. And I truly did not know the meaning of the word and would never intentionally use such hurtful language."
The Cleveland Fox affiliate also issued a statement.
"Kristi regrets her actions and realizes the impact of her mistake and the hurt she has caused. On Tuesday afternoon, Kristi met with a group of African-American clergy from Northeast Ohio to begin the process of reflecting on the gravity of this incident. In her on-air apology, Kristi vowed to learn from this experience and has begun that process with help from clergy, friends, family and co-workers."
Dawson said he forgave Capel because he knew "her heart" and that she was a "good girl."
"I've been working with you for three years, so I think I know your heart," Dawson told Capel on-air. "And I know you didn't mean it. . . . So my thing is that you learn from it, you move on. It's time to forgive and move on. My prayer is that our viewers forgive and move on because she's a good girl. She really, really is."
Are you buying Capel's excuse?
Follow Me
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
}
Comments