Will ABC fire ‘Good Morning America’ anchor for on-air racial slur?

Will ABC fire ‘Good Morning America’ anchor for on-air racial slur?

“Good Morning America” co-host Amy Robach has apologized for using a racial slur on live TV Monday. In a statement released after the show, she called the incident “a mistake,” insisting that the term she had used was “not at all a reflection of how I feel or speak in my everyday life.”

But will the apology be enough, or will the network be forced to take drastic action? Before hazarding a guess, I ask that you take a look at a clip of the segment, which appears in the opening seconds of this video, posted by Us magazine. (Warning: If there are young children in the room … you may want to invite them to watch.)

Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?

Yep, that was it. She uttered the words colored people, a term in widely accepted usage — including by colored people — up though the 1050s, when it was declared politically incorrect. It was supplanted by the more-precise Negro, which was itself upstaged a decade or so later by black, which continues to be used to this day, even by speakers willing to accept the inaccurate and cumbersome term du jour African American (which technically refers a person born in Africa who migrates to the U.S.).

My point here is that while what Amy Robach said on air is dated, it is hard to see how it can be called “offensive” or deemed a “racial slur.”

https://twitter.com/jssulton11369/status/767693371167105024?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

The obvious question that arises is whether these same people are offended by the name National Association for the Advancement Colored People, which perpetuates that same dated term.

By the way, Robach in her mea culpa explained that she meant to say “people of color,” which is OK to use. Go figure.

Howard Portnoy

Howard Portnoy

Howard Portnoy has written for The Blaze, HotAir, NewsBusters, Weasel Zippers, Conservative Firing Line, RedCounty, and New York’s Daily News. He has one published novel, Hot Rain, (G. P. Putnam’s Sons), and has been a guest on Radio Vice Online with Jim Vicevich, The Alana Burke Show, Smart Life with Dr. Gina, and The George Espenlaub Show.

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