WTAM fires anchor who referred to Kamala Harris as ‘colored’
Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., speaks during the third day of the Democratic National Convention, Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2020, at the Chase Center in Wilmington, Del. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)AP
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- WTAM 1100 has fired an anchor who referred to Sen. Kamala Harris as the nation’s “first colored vice presidential candidate” in a news promo Wednesday night.
“We are aware of the reference made on WTAM by Kyle Cornell,” Ray Davis, the station’s program and promotions director said in a statement. “We take this matter very seriously and addressed it immediately. The term used is extremely offensive and does not align with our station’s core values and commitment to the communities we serve. He is no longer with WTAM.”
In a news teaser that aired during the station’s broadcast of the Cleveland Indians game, Cornell said, “The U.S. officially has its first colored vice presidential candidate. More coming up after the game on Newsradio WTAM 1100 Cleveland.” Audio of the clip was posted to social media and went viral.
In an interview with WKYC 3News, Cornell said the comment “wasn’t meant to be malicious or in any sort of way trying to decimate the character of anyone.”
“That was never the goal and for that, again, I am truly sorry,” he said. “For the station of WTAM too, I feel awful for putting them through what they’ve had to go through over the past 24 hours... I just want them to understand it was a rough choice to make and that I accept my punishment.”
“Colored” is an antiquated term that is considered offensive and derogatory because of its association with slavery and racist Jim Crow laws that were designed to keep Black people segregated and disenfranchised from white America. In its stylebook, the Associated Press says the word is permissible “only in names of organizations or in rare quotations when essential.”
Harris, whose mother is from India and whose father is from Jamaica, is the first woman of color on a major party’s presidential ticket.
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