Spewing expletives as his first words on live TV may have been jaw-dropping and even hilarious to some viewers in North Dakota but to A.J. Clemente, he says it's simply ‘gut wrenching’ to watch.
Clemente, the newly unemployed news anchor formerly out of Bismarck, opened up to the Today show on Wednesday while revealing he first had no idea his astonishing flub was broadcast on air last Sunday.
'When I first saw the clip, it was gut-wrenching,' Clemente told the Today Show of those two words that first introduced him to the city's evening news audience, as well as the rest of America.
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Second chance: A.J. Clemente, the newly unemployed news anchor formerly out of Bismarck, North Dakota appeared on the Today Show on Wednesday
Getting by: Clemente did his best to laugh with the NBC anchors over the situation while still calling his gaffe inexcusable and fully expected to be fired like he was
'F****** S***,' Clemente is heard just as the camera cut to him hiding his face at the anchor desk.
'I didn't even know I said it on camera until my news director walked in on the third break,' he said.
His co-anchor appeared to stumble over his profanity but he says it was all a situation of the two of them being tossed to from the control room while caught off guard.
He says he hadn't yet been given an ear piece by the station and his co-anchor had forgotten hers in her car.
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'I was looking down, I was going over my script, Van my co-anchor happens to be looking at the camera and she notices the red light comes on, we actually came on 30 seconds early,' he says.
Then when he saw several names he couldn't pronounce related to the London Marathon winners in his upcoming script, 'fireball shot came right out of my mouth,' he explained.
'I fully expected that they would fire me' he said while calling those two words 'inexcusable.'
Poor introduction: On Sunday Clemente had his first night at the anchor desk when he introduced his appearance with expletives
Off guard: Clemente told the Today show that he didn't have an ear piece and the control room cut to him and his co-anchor 30 seconds earlier than expected
Opportunity: Helping him out the anchors allowed Clemente to toss to a commercial break as part of his new anchor reel
'Rookie mistake. I’m a free agent. Can’t help but laugh at myself and stay positive,' Clemente later wrote on Twitter after first being suspended by the station and getting through what he described as a 'tough day.'
‘I want to apologize for an incident that occurred prior to our early newscast this evening, when one of our employees used profanity on the air,’ Monica Hannan, KFYR-TV wrote in an apology on the station's Facebook page on Sunday.
‘He did not realize his microphone was on, but still, that's no excuse. We train our reporters to always assume that any microphone is live at any time. Unfortunately, that was not enough in this case. WE can't take back what was said,' she wrote.
Spotlight: On Wednesday AJ Clemente also appeared on LIVE with Kelly and Michael
But what Clemente and Hannan both call 'inexcusable,' may have turned into the biggest boost in his career.
At the end of his interview Clemente was given the privilege by NBC’s Matt Lauer of teasing the next segments on Today while throwing to a commercial break.
Following his interview he also appeared on LIVE with Kelly & Michael and is also slated to appear on the Late Show with David Letterman later that night.
'Thank God for each day,' Clemente tweeted on Wednesday.
WATCH THE VIDEO HERE:
'Gut-wrenching to watch': Cursing anchor explains himself
