NEW YORK -- A North Dakota TV news anchor whose first day on the air was also his last.
A weekend news anchorman for a Bismarck television station says he was fired after he opened his first-ever broadcast with obscenities.
A.J. Clemente says on Twitter that KFYR-TV fired him Monday:
The NBC affiliate said in an earlier statement that Clemente was suspended following the Sunday evening broadcast. General manager Dick Heidt says he can't discuss the incident because it's a personnel matter.
The station posted an apology online and co-anchorwoman Van Tieu also apologized during the 10 p.m. newscast.
After the on-air gaffe, Clemente introduced himself as a West Virginia graduate who said he was very excited about joining the anchor desk.
Video of Clemente's two-word uttering was immediately posted online via social media sites, and the hashtag Keep AJ started trending on Twitter in support of him.
Clemente tweeted after the broadcast: That couldn't have gone any worse!
He immediately received thousands of re-tweets and new followers on the social network, many of whom tweeted other TV stations to hire the new Internet celebrity. Most people who wrote KFYR on its Facebook page expressed disappointment in the anchor s firing.
