Yahoo fires bureau chief for Romney/blacks remark
NEW YORK (AP) - Yahoo News fired its Washington bureau chief on Wednesday, less than 24 hours after he was caught on an open microphone saying that Mitt Romney and his wife, at the Republican convention in Florida while a hurricane was approaching Louisiana, were "happy to have a party with black people drowning."
Company spokeswoman Anne Espiritu said Wednesday that David Chalian's remark was inappropriate and does not represent Yahoo's views.
"We have already reached out to the Romney campaign, and we apologize to Mitt Romney, his staff, their supporters and anyone who was offend," she said.
Chalian made the remark during a hot-mic moment before Yahoo began its live coverage of the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., on Tuesday evening. Yahoo is streaming coverage in association with ABC News.
The website Newsbusters posted a copy of the video and the audio. The video showed Ann and Mitt Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, while the audio picked up background conversation, not all of it intelligible, about the Republican convention taking place as Hurricane Isaac was about to hit the Louisiana coast.
Someone makes a remark, "they're not concerned at all." In a clearer voice, Chalian says, "they are happy to have a party with black people drowning."
Chalian said Wednesday that he was "profoundly sorry for making an inappropriate and thoughtless joke."
"I was commenting on the challenge of staging a convention during a hurricane and about campaign optics," he said. "I have apologized to the Romney campaign, and I want to take this opportunity to publicly apologize to governor and Mrs. Romney."
Rescuers in boats and trucks plucked a handful of people who became stranded by floodwaters in thinly populated areas of southeast Louisiana during the storm. But only one death had been reported as the hurricane plodded across the state, that of a man who authorities said had gone to help friends move a vehicle from under a tree and fell after climbing 18 feet up it.
Company spokeswoman Anne Espiritu said Wednesday that David Chalian's remark was inappropriate and does not represent Yahoo's views.
"We have already reached out to the Romney campaign, and we apologize to Mitt Romney, his staff, their supporters and anyone who was offend," she said.
Chalian made the remark during a hot-mic moment before Yahoo began its live coverage of the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., on Tuesday evening. Yahoo is streaming coverage in association with ABC News.
The website Newsbusters posted a copy of the video and the audio. The video showed Ann and Mitt Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, while the audio picked up background conversation, not all of it intelligible, about the Republican convention taking place as Hurricane Isaac was about to hit the Louisiana coast.
Someone makes a remark, "they're not concerned at all." In a clearer voice, Chalian says, "they are happy to have a party with black people drowning."
Chalian said Wednesday that he was "profoundly sorry for making an inappropriate and thoughtless joke."
"I was commenting on the challenge of staging a convention during a hurricane and about campaign optics," he said. "I have apologized to the Romney campaign, and I want to take this opportunity to publicly apologize to governor and Mrs. Romney."
Rescuers in boats and trucks plucked a handful of people who became stranded by floodwaters in thinly populated areas of southeast Louisiana during the storm. But only one death had been reported as the hurricane plodded across the state, that of a man who authorities said had gone to help friends move a vehicle from under a tree and fell after climbing 18 feet up it.
Loose mouth sinks ship,typical American !
Was that supposed to be some kind of a "gotcha question"? What a moron. Now he's going to be collecting unemployment for a while since he'll never work again. What a clown.
That's a totally inappropriate comment. He deserved to be fired.
And, by the way, what's the man who's supposed to be running the country doing for the hurricane victims? Oh, that's right--he hasn't skipped a beat in his campaign for re-election. For a minute there I thought perhaps he'd actually done something.Â
 @infogirl Yes, reminding everyone of George W. Bush's murderously inept handling of Hurricane Katrina is a good idea for Republicans during this election season.
@infogirl for an "Info-Girl"... you need info. For a week before the hurricane struck, he had people FEMA going out to the areas where it was to strike. (Don't know if you remember it, but it was to hit FL, moved to LA). He had a press conference, strictly about the hurricane, having people listen to their local government; as they would be provided with up to date information.Â
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Oh, and BTW: I don't support Obama, I just don't like it when people spread lies (misrepresentation) about anyone.
Once again the liberals show their true colors. They are the actual racists and bigots. He was not fired because they did not agree with his statement, he was fired for exposing their true beliefs.
@acepaul So the Yahoo! News chief represents all democrats and Obama supporters? So do the 2 GOP party people who tossed peanuts at a black camera woman (and said "this is how we feed the animals") represent all GOPPERS and Romney supporters?
@NBA_Is_Useless That was looked into and never happened. It if had, you can bet it would have been all over ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN and MSNBC. How low can liberals go?
 @Opus8no5  @NBA_Is_Useless "Looked into and never happened?" If that's the case, then please be so good as to explain the following statement from the RNC:
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"Two attendees tonight exhibited deplorable behavior. Their conduct was inexcusable and unacceptable. This kind of behavior will not be tolerated."
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Or this statement from CNN:
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"CNN can confirm there was an incident directed at an employee inside the Tampa Bay Times Forum earlier this afternoon. CNN worked with convention officials to address this matter and will have no further comment."
Next I suppose the Dems and their media cohorts will accuse Republicans of causing the hurricane. Do you really, truly think that a huge convention with such an important purpose that took months to plan can simply be canceled with no significant effect? And even if that were possible, how would that help people in the path of a storm? Try really hard to think about this--and give the GOP credit for canceling the first day to ensure the safety of all those who were traveling to Tampa.Â
@infogirl Info (less) girl --- could you please tell me what you are talking about? Your coments are non sequitur with details in the article. I'm all for a good rant, but trying to remain on topic wold be good.
 @Bomarc  @infogirl Infogirl is a troll - don't feed it.
And these people want to run our country? Â I don't think so.
 @I am in Tacoma What part of this article did not make sense? The comments in question were not made by the Romney campaign, they were made by a news pundit.
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Please read and comprehend before commenting.
 @I am in Tacoma I don't think Chalian was trying to run our country.