TV anchor drops on-air F-bomb—in his first telecast

Despite overwhelming support from social media users, A.J. Clemente was fired after his on-air gaffe. Worst first day ever?

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Sunday was his first night on the anchor desk at KFYR-TV, the NBC affiliate in Bismarck, N.D., and within his first 30 seconds on the air, Clemente dropped an F-bomb and an S-bomb. Today, the station fired him.

Roll tape (careful—there’s some foul language):

Gawker Media’s Deadspin blog was the first to report on the gaffe.

After the telecast, Clemente tweeted:

That couldn’t have gone any worse!

— A.J. Clemente (@ClementeAJ) April 21, 2013

Later, he tweeted his apologies for the gaffe:

Tough day,Thanks for the support,We all make mistakes. Im truly sorry for mine. I’ll try my hardest to come back better and learn from this.

— A.J. Clemente (@ClementeAJ) April 22, 2013

KFYR-TV News Director Monica Hannan issued her own apology, as well as an explanation, on the station’s Facebook page:

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