Share this article:
Print

Anchor's profane flub goes viral on Web

by Associated Press

Posted on September 18, 2009 at 5:12 PM

Updated Thursday, Oct 15 at 5:17 PM

******

NEW YORK -- A veteran New York City news anchor flubs a line and an obscene catch phrase goes viral on the Internet.

Ernie Anastos of Fox affiliate WNYW was bantering with the weatherman Wednesday night when he cheerfully dropped an F-bomb on the air. What he likely intended to say was, "Keep plucking that chicken."

Anastos didn't appear to recognize the error, though co-anchor Dari Alexander's eyes bugged out after he said it.

Just before the flub, Anastos told weatherman Nick Gregory, "It takes a tough man to make a tender forecast," a play on an old chicken commercial.

Videos of the mistake circulated widely online Thursday, as the phrase took on a life of its own.

Fox isn't laughing, though. The vice president and general manager of WNYW, Lew Leone, said he's "disappointed" in Anastos' comment and the anchor will apologize on the air Thursday evening.

Anastos, an Emmy-winning anchor, has been a mainstay on New York's evening news for more than three decades.

Another longtime New York anchor, Sue Simmons, last year inadvertently cursed as she did a teaser for WNBC's newscast and the wrong footage was being shown.

?

Share this article:
Print

To add a comment, please register or login.

Leave your comment
1000 characters remaining

Submit

We welcome your comments on this story's topic. Off-topic comments, personal attacks, and inappropriate language may be flagged and removed, and comment privileges blocked, per our Terms of Service. Thanks for keeping the comments space respectful.

Privacy Policy

HTML is not allowed.