Barbie Bassett: Mississippi news anchor fired for using racially insensitive word from Snoop Dogg song
JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI: Barbie Bassett has apparently been taken off-air for her racially offensive comments in a live broadcast. The Mississippi news anchor who has been in the profession for a long time had quoted a Snoop Dogg lyric.
The popular anchor is no longer employed with the news team of WLBT in Jackson, affiliated with NBC. In the station's 50-plus-year history, Bassett was its first-chief meteorologist. Following the March 8 incident, the company's website no longer shows her bio.
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What was Bassett's offensive comment?
During a segment on the on-air broadcast, the anchors talked about Cali Wine Collection, a wine company owned by Snoop Dogg, and also the launch of his Snoop Cali Blanc variety. At the end of the broadcast, the White anchor used a popular slang of Snoop which was a variation of the N-word that says, "Fo shizzle, my [epithet]", in which the racial epithet refers to Black people.
Bassett's previous racial comment
Five months ago, the former beauty pageant queen made another offensive remark where she referred to her Black co-anchors' grandmother as "grandmammy". The term she used for Cameron Poe's grandmother is used by African-American slaves for their grandmothers.
For the incident in October 2022, Bassett stated her apology at the time to her co-workers and the viewers and called it "insensitive and hurtful". She also said that she will be participating in training to "better understand our history and our people."
After the controversial on-air remarks, Ted Fortenberry, WLBT Vice-president and general manager stated in a social media post, "As I am sure you can understand, WLBT is unable to comment on personnel matters." At the time, Bassett issued an apology in which she said, "Last Friday on our newscast 'Today at 11', I used a term that was offensive to many in our audience and to my coworkers here at WLBT. Though not intentional, I now understand how my comment was both insensitive and hurtful. I have apologized to Carmen Poe. Now, I would like to apologize to you. That is not the heart of who I am. And for that, I humbly ask for your forgiveness and I apologize to everyone I have offended. I will learn from this and participate in training so I can better understand our history and our people," she continued adding, "I can't mend the hurt my comment caused. I pray you'll forgive me and that you'll extend grace through this awful mistake," according to Daily Mail.