Cari Champion, weekend news anchor for CBS affililate TV station WGCL Channel 46 out of Atlanta has been fired for speaking into an open microphone while off camera. She and her co-anchor had cut to a commercial and she was sharing some words of wisdom. What did she utter? According to the dethroned Champion, she said Mothasucka. The station isn’t buying it.

Apparently the loose lipped former anchor is going to fight the dismissal. She wants her TV gig back. Good luck with that.

We have received a copy of the news anchors official statement. Keep reading on the next page of this Update.

STORY UPDATE:

STATEMENT FROM CARI CHAMPION REGARDING WGCL MISHAP

“What happened was a simple but honest mistake.

I was talking to my co-anchor during a commercial break. The floor director did not cue me or my co-anchor, and when it was time to tease an upcoming story, you could only hear us but not see us. My co-anchor and I were talking about a mechanical screenwriter. It is difficult to use at times. The last part of our conversation was light-hearted banter and barely audible, but it was picked up. I called the screenwriter a “mothersucka” not the f-bomb. I emphatically deny any attempted cover up of the mishap. In fact I was the one who brought it to the attention of the news directors. And, the beta tape has conversation that clearly supports my position. On the beta, the director and I have clear discussions where it is clear that they failed to cue us, and we were worried that the word “mothasucka” had been picked up.”

“I did not curse on the air, and what happened should not have cost me my job. “Darn,” “shoot” and “heck” are all words that a listener may see as substitutes for curse words. But, they are not curse words…and neither is “mothasucka.” The penalty seems extremely heavy-handed. Several years ago an Atlanta anchorman at another station actually said MF on the air and was merely suspended, not fired. This situation is a one-time mishap, not entirely my fault, that resulted from miscommunication on the set. I simply was not cued, and I said something that was not a curse word. Also, it happened at 11:30 at night when kids are asleep and to my knowledge there were not complaints made about it to the station.

I hope that the Meredith Executives in Iowa take the time to check the facts here and hire me back.

It’s an unfortunate situation that hopefully will be corrected.”

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