Local news presenter fired after swearing on air

A local NBC station in America has fired A.J. Clemente after he swore live on air in what was his first day on the job.

KFYR, an NBC affiliate, fired Clemente after his debut on the Sunday evening news programme. As the opening titles played out, he swore twice, failing to realise his microphone was on.

His co-anchor, Van Tieu, then welcomed him to the job and asked him to introduce himself to viewers, to which he also appeared to mess up. Clips of the incident have gone viral, stacking up thousands of hits on YouTube.

He tweeted just after “That couldn’t have gone any worse!” and then later confirmed “I’m a free agent.” The station apologised for the incident on its Facebook page, but a campaign has begun to give A.J. another chance.