The St. Louis County branch of the NAACP is calling for the firing of KTVI-TV news anchor Kevin Steincross after Steincross inserted a racial slur into Martin Luther King Jr.'s name during a morning news show last week.
Steincross apologized on the air a few hours later and an official with Tribune Broadcasting, which owns the station, said the slur was an "unfortunate mistake" and that no additional action would be taken, according to the St. Louis-Dispatch.
"The Fox2 management team spoke to Kevin following the mistake and we believe that it was truly inadvertent and does not reflect Kevin's core beliefs," a Tribune spokesperson said a written statement, the Dispatch reported.
But that’s not sitting well with the NAACP.
Officials with the group were scheduled to meet with the television station's management Monday afternoon and said they would push for Steincross's removal, according to the newspaper.
"There are some matters where it is imperative we take a stand, and this is one of them," NAACP branch President John Gaskin said. "I understand some people believe it was a mistake, but there are some mistakes in every field that are grounds for termination."
Gaskin said this mistake “needs to be taken seriously.”
In early January, meteorologist Jeremy Kappell, with WHEC-TV in Rochester, New York, was fired for using the same slur in King's name during a report on a city park. He was fired a few days later.
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