Anchor Sue Simmons drops the F-bomb

[trane_fanatic]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=zlviPGoy__0

[7/4]

Ah...I love it! This is our local NBC news.

I heard about this...I wonder what she was referring to...

[Shawn]

I'm going to sample that and use it on my next mix CD. Edited May 14, 2008 by Shawn

[AllenLowe]

and there's a jazz connection - her father was the bass player John Simmons-

[Brownian Motion]

Class act.

[robviti]

actually, i think she did show some class. she quickly acknowledged a mistake that was her's and her's alone, rather than blame it on the sound engineer. she didn't criticize her band for playing the wrong song (ashlee simpson) or chalk it up to a wardrobe malfunction (janet jackson). she took responsibility and apologized. to me that's class. oh, and i like women who swear.

Edited May 15, 2008 by jazzshrink

[papsrus]

Well ... on-air people should -- and do -- know better. Anytime you're near a mic, assume it's on. Particularly when you're in the middle of a live newscast, I would think. All in all, embarrassing, but not the end of the world. ...

EDIT: It would be interesting to know what the back story is on this, like what the fuck was he/she doing? What if her co-anchor started groping her or something -- ala the Weather Channel guy? That would be cause enough for an F-bomb or two.

Edited May 15, 2008 by papsrus

[Joe G]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=mKxwRL2dXQ4

A golden oldie from Inside Edition.

[Shawn]

My all time favorite. Casey Casem goes POSTAL!

http://bloopers.hankhayes.com/

Link on left side of page.

[Van Basten II]

In a related matter, although they have been pulled out on You Tube, anybody saw Chris Berman's video going bunkers off the air, cursing and bitching after off tv people, what a jerk.

[Teasing the Korean]

and there's a jazz connection - her father was the bass player John Simmons-

I thought her father was the bass player Gene Simmons. He's certainly old enough.

[Randy Twizzle]

The last NYC news person saying "fuck" over the air.

He was fired from WCBS but has managed to come back on WPIX.

[BFrank]

actually, i think she did show some class. she quickly acknowledged a mistake that was her's and her's alone, rather than blame it on the sound engineer. she didn't criticize her band for playing the wrong song (ashlee simpson) or chalk it up to a wardrobe malfunction (janet jackson). she took responsibility and apologized. to me that's class. oh, and i like women who swear.

I guess, but it's such a sad state of affairs that she even "needed" to do that. I can't imagine that a day goes by when 90% of the American public doesn't use or at least hear that word. It's just silly ...

[ValerieB]

actually, i think she did show some class. she quickly acknowledged a mistake that was her's and her's alone, rather than blame it on the sound engineer. she didn't criticize her band for playing the wrong song (ashlee simpson) or chalk it up to a wardrobe malfunction (janet jackson). she took responsibility and apologized. to me that's class. oh, and i like women who swear.

I guess, but it's such a sad state of affairs that she even "needed" to do that. I can't imagine that a day goes by when 90% of the American public doesn't use or at least hear that word. It's just silly ...

not that i'm beyond using the word, but she looks like a hard, tough cookie to me. bet she'd be pretty without all that heavy theatrical makeup. IMHO, of course!

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

actually, i think she did show some class. she quickly acknowledged a mistake that was her's and her's alone, rather than blame it on the sound engineer. she didn't criticize her band for playing the wrong song (ashlee simpson) or chalk it up to a wardrobe malfunction (janet jackson). she took responsibility and apologized. to me that's class. oh, and i like women who swear.

I guess, but it's such a sad state of affairs that she even "needed" to do that. I can't imagine that a day goes by when 90% of the American public doesn't use or at least hear that word. It's just silly ...

Depends on what time of day it was. You get a lot of swearing - quite rightly in my opinion - on British TV, but not first thing in the morning etc.

MG

[Jazzmoose]

not that i'm beyond using the word, but she looks like a hard, tough cookie to me. bet she'd be pretty without all that heavy theatrical makeup. IMHO, of course!

Not my type, really, but if she's willing to talk dirty to me...

[Shawn]

actually, i think she did show some class. she quickly acknowledged a mistake that was her's and her's alone, rather than blame it on the sound engineer. she didn't criticize her band for playing the wrong song (ashlee simpson) or chalk it up to a wardrobe malfunction (janet jackson). she took responsibility and apologized. to me that's class. oh, and i like women who swear.

I guess, but it's such a sad state of affairs that she even "needed" to do that. I can't imagine that a day goes by when 90% of the American public doesn't use or at least hear that word. It's just silly ...

George Carlin - "Words are neutral, there are no bad words, only bad intentions".

[AllenLowe]

her father recorded with Ben Webster, among others - he's the bass player on the transcriptions with Webster, Hot Lips Page, and Clyde Hart, I think -

[paul secor]

John Simmons recorded with many of the giants - Louis, Monk, Milt Jackson, James P., Benny Carter, Don Byas, Nat Cole, Hawk, Billie, and Pres - to name some of them.

[Brownian Motion]

actually, i think she did show some class. she quickly acknowledged a mistake that was her's and her's alone, rather than blame it on the sound engineer. she didn't criticize her band for playing the wrong song (ashlee simpson) or chalk it up to a wardrobe malfunction (janet jackson). she took responsibility and apologized. to me that's class. oh, and i like women who swear.

If her angry vulgar question is her typical way of dealing with subordinates at the workplace, I'd say she should be reprimanded if not fired. As for taking responsibility--not sure she had any other credible options.

[catesta]

actually, i think she did show some class. she quickly acknowledged a mistake that was her's and her's alone, rather than blame it on the sound engineer. she didn't criticize her band for playing the wrong song (ashlee simpson) or chalk it up to a wardrobe malfunction (janet jackson). she took responsibility and apologized. to me that's class. oh, and i like women who swear.

I guess, but it's such a sad state of affairs that she even "needed" to do that. I can't imagine that a day goes by when 90% of the American public doesn't use or at least hear that word. It's just silly ...

I use the word in almost every sentence.

John Cleese would call me "a true vulgarian".

Still, me and that 90% of the American public you refer to are not on television or radio doing the news.

[7/4]

actually, i think she did show some class. she quickly acknowledged a mistake that was her's and her's alone, rather than blame it on the sound engineer. she didn't criticize her band for playing the wrong song (ashlee simpson) or chalk it up to a wardrobe malfunction (janet jackson). she took responsibility and apologized. to me that's class. oh, and i like women who swear.

I guess, but it's such a sad state of affairs that she even "needed" to do that. I can't imagine that a day goes by when 90% of the American public doesn't use or at least hear that word. It's just silly ...

not that i'm beyond using the word, but she looks like a hard, tough cookie to me. bet she'd be pretty without all that heavy theatrical makeup. IMHO, of course!

She is extremely cute...

Wiki: Susan Simmons (born May 27, 1943) has been the lead female anchor at WNBC television in New York City since 1980.

I didn't know...

[Dan Gould]

Either Sue Simmons has amazing genes or a great plastic surgeon to be 64 and look like she's around 45.

As for previous "vulgar" outbursts on the NYC airwaves, wasn't there a time in the 80s when Tom Snyder was doing the news and didn't realize he was on camera when someone off-camera said or did something and he flipped him the bird? I have a strong memory of that happening but was surprised it didn't merit a mention in the reporting of Simmons' mistake.

[7/4]

Newsday.com

WNBC says it's still standing behind Sue Simmons

Verne Gay

May 15, 2008

Sue stays.

WNBC/4 released another statement late yesterday apologizing again for the late-evening gaffe on Monday, when the station's veteran anchor Sue Simmons yelled a four-letter word during a tease for the 11 p.m. news.

But yesterday's statement - which a spokesperson declined to elaborate on - also appeared designed to dash media speculation that Simmons' 28-year tenure was imperiled by the outburst.

"Sue Simmons is a highly valued 30-year veteran of WNBC," said the statement. "Sue, along with WNBC, remains deeply sorry for her offensive remark on Monday night for which she quickly apologized. It was an unfortunate mistake that she truly regrets."

The gaffe wasn't only a public relations embarrassment for the station - gearing up to launch a 24-hour local news channel and struggling to contain costs in the face of declining ratings - but a personal one for the well-liked Simmons.

[7/4]

May 14, 2008

When an Anchor Curses on the Air, She Becomes the Night’s Top Story

By JAMES BARRON, NYTimes

Maybe that will teach Chuck to stop reading things on his computer monitor and start paying attention to Sue.

It looked like a spat between two people who have worked together for so long that they know each other’s rhythms a little too well. And, of course, they have worked together, for ages — or at least since 1980. There was Chuck Scarborough, reading something on a computer screen embedded in the desk and not listening to his co-anchor, Sue Simmons.

So she let him have it in what sounded like mock derision. But she used a word seldom heard on the noncable air, and then only by accident — a word that is not publishable in the newspaper.

The difference between them and, say, a couple having a spat over the dinner table was that they were on television — live television, on a network-owned station in the nation’s largest media market.

It happened during a promotional spot at about 10:30 p.m. on Monday night on WNBC-TV, when they were supposed to describe stories that would be on their newscast at 11. By Tuesday morning, the outburst had New Yorkers talking about the nature of cursing in everyday conversation — not to mention the nature of Ms. Simmons, almost as permanent a presence in local news as there can be — and about how some things seem to be appropriate nowadays, even on television — and some things are not.

“That gets thrown around like ‘hello’ and ‘good morning,’ ” said Omar Villaneuva, a doorman at 27 West 72nd Street, between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue, referring to the word Ms. Simmons used. “But when you’re a news reporter, you’re supposed to report the news. You’re not there to swear.”

Peter King, who works in an architectural office on the Upper West Side, echoed Mr. Villaneuva’s point. “It’s overused, and we are crasser than we were for it,” Mr. King said. “It’s just another indication of standards declining. I mean, I curse like a sailor, but I know how to talk to my dad and talk to clients, versus how to talk to my friends.”

Mr. King said he remembered when the word Ms. Simmons used was “shocking, as opposed to tiresome.”

Tiresome?

“Yeah,” he said. “If you see movies or plays, it’s a writer’s gimmick.”

But this was no David Mamet play. Each night around 10:25, the anchors on Channel 4 tape a 15-second spot promoting the 11 p.m. newscast. Occasionally, it has to be done live.

On Monday night, according to someone who works at Channel 4 and has direct knowledge of the situation, Ms. Simmons and Mr. Scarborough thought the spot was being taped. When they were cued, Ms. Simmons read her line: “At 11, paying more at the grocer, but getting less. We’ll tell you how to get the most.”

The station then cut to images for an upcoming story about a cruise ship, without any narrative from the two anchors.

At that point, Ms. Simmons says, basically, What are you doing?

But her question had two extra words.

Ms. Simmons, looking genuinely pained, apologized during the 11 p.m. broadcast. “While we were live just after 10 o’clock,” she said, “I said a word that many people find offensive. I’m truly sorry. It was a mistake on my part, and I sincerely apologize.”

Channel 4 would not say whether it was considering disciplining Ms. Simmons; the station said it did not comment on personnel matters. She appeared on the station’s 5 p.m. newscast on Tuesday, as scheduled.

“How do you cope under pressure?” asked Willie Pope, who was collecting donations for the United Homeless Organization at Columbus Avenue and West 72nd Street on Tuesday. “I have people who call me everything in the book. Back in the day, I’d go after the person, take action.”

Not anymore. Now, he said, “I try my best not to curse.” And he said that a television anchor should not curse, either.

Sarah Bassine, a filmmaker, said that Ms. Simmons was a role model. “It’s not setting a particularly good example to be cursing on the air,” she said. “I think that profanity has taken a place in our society where it’s all too acceptable as a form of communication. It’s a lazy form of communication. Certainly, a newscaster should be able to express herself or himself better. People who are in the public eye have a responsibility to conduct themselves in a responsible manner.”

Linda Murray, a graduate student originally from Ireland, said that after 9 p.m. in Europe, the standards are looser.

But then she had second thoughts about that.

“I guess it’s inappropriate for the news,” she said. “There’s a perception of professionalism.”

Ms. Simmons’ eyebrow-raising word-bomb brought back memories of, among others, television reporter Arthur Chi’en, who was fired from WCBS-TV for shouting an obscenity at some hecklers on the air in 2005. An arbitrator ruled in 2006 that he should have been disciplined, not dismissed. Now a reporter for WPIX-TV’s “CW11 News at 10,” Mr. Chi’en did not return a call for comment on Tuesday.

It also brought back memories of Mara Wolynski, a reporter at WABC-TV in the 1980s who made an obscene gesture that was caught on camera.

That same gesture was made by Prof. Alain E. Kaloyeros of the State University of New York in Albany, and a photograph of it was published in The New York Post two days in a row.

That photo was taken at the end of a meeting, Professor Kaloyeros said in a telephone interview on Tuesday, and the person who snapped it had “made a derogatory comment” about two female colleagues flanking Professor Kaloyeros. He said the gesture was meant to show that he was “taking exception to a joke about age and looks.”

“I learned my lesson,” he said. “Even in a private joking moment, keep all my digits to myself.”

Ms. Simmons and Mr. Scarborough “are talented, smart, competent people,” said Richard Wald, a former president of NBC News and senior vice president of ABC News who is now the Fred W. Friendly professor of media and society at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. (Mr. Wald said that Ms. Simmons and Mr. Scarborough worked under him when he was vice president for news at the local stations that NBC owned around the country.)

“Local anchors become a piece of the community,” Mr. Wald said, “and they are to television what typeface is to your local newspaper. They are the way in which you get the information. I think that live television is lucky that there aren’t more minor errors like that because it’s tricky, and it requires a great deal of concentration, and I guess her concentration must have slipped.”