David Chalian, the bureau chief for Yahoo News in Washington, was fired Wednesday as a result of a hot-mic incident. The incident took place at the GOP convention in Tampa, Florida. During the incident, Chalian was heard on-air when he said that Mitt Romney and his wife Ann were ‘not concerned at all and are happy to have a party with black people drowning.’ The comment seemingly connected the GOP convention in Tampa as Hurricane Isaac was slamming into Louisiana.
A statement was released by a spokesperson from Yahoo that announced the firing of Chalian, which was effective immediately. The statement reads:
“David Chalian’s statement was inappropriate and does not represent the views of Yahoo!. He has been terminated effective immediately. We have already reached out to the Romney campaign, and we apologize to Mitt Romney, his staff, their supporters and anyone who was offended.”
During the afternoon Wednesday, Chalian released an apology for his comments. He described his comments as ‘inappropriate and thoughtless joke.’ Chalian also issued private and public apologies to the campaign of Romney. The apology from Chalian reads:
“I am 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. I have apologized to the Romney campaign, and I want to take this opportunity to publicly apologize to Gov. and Mrs. Romney. I also regret causing any distraction from the exceptional coverage of the Republican convention by Yahoo News and ABC News.”