Rochester Radio Hosts Fired Over Racist Remarks

If it feels like deja vu all over again, it kind of is. In 2014, DJs Kimberly Ray and Barry Beck were fired from a Rochester radio station over transgender jokes they made. On Wednesday morning, the two were fired again, this time from a different Rochester station, over racist comments made the day prior. The Democrat & Chronicle reports that as the two were talking on Radio 95.1 about a local couple who were attacked after a Black Lives Matter protest, Ray used the term "n-word" three times (she did not use the six-letter slur itself). One example: "Okay, let me ask you a question. Were they acting n-word-ish?"

Syracuse.com quotes Beck as saying, "If you look like a thug and if you act like a thug, and you've got three on one beating up a white woman with a two-by-four, by God, you're a thug." They later debated the use of the term "n-word," apparently deciding "no one's offended by that." Not true, it turns out. Robert Morgan, head of the Upstate New York market for station owner iHeartMedia, had this to say: "We made the decision to terminate Kimberly and Beck yesterday as soon as we learned of their comments and informed them early this morning. We will not tolerate this kind of behavior, which is antithetical to our core values and beliefs and to our commitment to our community and everyone in it." (More fired stories.)