A Mississippi television news anchor has not been on the air since he quoted a popular line from Snoop Dogg earlier this month.
Barbie Bassett has not returned to NBC affiliate WLBT since it aired March 8 and is no longer listed as a member of the news team on the network’s website, Clarion Ledger reports.
“As I’m sure you can understand, WLBT is in no position to comment on personnel matters,” Ted Fortenberry, the channel’s regional vice president and general manager, said in a social media post.
Bassett spoke about adding Snoop Dogg to his wine line.
Bassett used an expression – which contains slang for the n-word – when the idea of Snoop working with a newsroom journalist came up.
The station’s chief meteorologist and anchor Bassett previously caused controversy with a comment referring to the “grandmother” of a black reporter on the air. She later apologized.
“Although not intentional, I now understand how insensitive and hurtful my comment was. I apologized to Carmen Poe,” Bassett said at the time.
“Now I want to apologize to you. That’s not the heart of what I am. And for that, I humbly ask your forgiveness and I apologize to anyone I have offended.”
Mark Heim is a reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim.