If you told me Fox News “accidentally” used a racial slur in an on-screen graphic, I might not be surprised. But The Weather Channel? Huh? In a world filled with smartphones, I’m not sure who still gets their local weather forecast from The Weather Channel. But the 24-hour cable weather network, which was acquired by Byron Allen’s Allen Media in 2018, is apologizing for the N-word appearing in an on-screen graphic during a local weather segment.
Viewers watching the Local on the 8s forecast in Des Moines, Iowa, were likely clutching their pearls when they saw “Hello Des Moines, This is your weather my N—–s” on their screen. Journalist Matthew Keys put the network on blast in a now-viral tweet which included a screenshot for evidence. He tweeted:
“The Weather Channel confirms this graphic accidentally made it on air in the Des Moines market on Thursday during a ‘Locals on the 8s’ segment. I’ve blurred it, but I’m pretty sure you can figure out what it said.”
For its part, The Weather Channel issued a statement on Facebook on July 22, apologizing for the on-screen gaffe, claiming the Shaggy defense, It wasn’t me. Their statement read:
“A graphic during The Weather Channel cable network’s ‘Local on the 8s’ presentation in Des Moines last evening included a racial slur. We removed this graphic as soon as we learned of it. This did not originate with us, and we are in the process of investigating it further. We apologize to our viewers.”
Many of the comments on social media supported TWC’s claims of “Not it,” acknowledging that the local cable stations are responsible for producing graphics for their local forecasts. But after reading this story, I had to ask myself, who at the local cable station hates their job so much that they were willing to go out like that?