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Kristi Capel during Monday's Oscar discussion on WJW Channel 8's morning newscast.
(WJW Channel 8)
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Those getting up early Wednesday to watch WJW Channel 8's morning newscast noticed right away that someone was missing. That someone was Kristi Capel, temporarily pulled off the air after using a racially offensive term during a Monday morning Oscar discussion with co-anchor Wayne Dawson.
Capel also won't be on the station's Thursday and Friday morning newscasts this week. She is expected to return Monday, March 2.
Channel 8, the Cleveland Fox affiliate owned by Tribune Media Group, confirmed the decision with a brief statement released Wednesday morning: "Kristi Capel will not be anchoring 'Fox 8 News in the Morning' for the remainder of the week."
Executives at the station would not confirm whether this was an actual suspension, paid or unpaid. Stacey Frey filled in for Capel Wednesday morning.
Capel found herself in the middle of an Internet firestorm after using the word "jigaboo," a derogatory term for African-Americans, while praising Lady Gaga's performance at Sunday's 87th Academy Awards. She apologized to Channel 8 viewers during Tuesday's morning newscast.
"I just want to take a moment to address a comment that I made yesterday that got a lot of attention," Capel said Tuesday. "It's important for me to let you know that I deeply regret my insensitive comment. And I truly did not know the meaning of the word and would never intentionally use such hurtful language."
The Monday blunder and Tuesday apology made headlines coast to coast, prompting thousands of responses on Twitter, Facebook and in the comments section of posted stories about the incident.
The Channel 8 statement revealed a bit of what Capel's day was like after the on-air apology: "Kristi regrets her actions and realizes the impact of her mistake and the hurt she has caused. On Tuesday afternoon, Kristi met with a group of African-American clergy from Northeast Ohio to begin the process of reflecting on the gravity of this incident. In her on-air apology, Kristi vowed to learn from this experience and has begun that process with help from clergy, friends, family and co-workers."
Dawson, a licensed minister, approached station executives Monday, wanting to make a statement publicly supporting Capel. He made it during Tuesday's morning's newscast.
"I've been working with you for three years, so I think I know your heart," Dawson said. "And I know you didn't mean it. . . . So my thing is that you learn from it, you move on. It's time to forgive and move on. My prayer is that our viewers forgive and move on because she's a good girl. She really, really is."
Lady Gaga performed a 50th-anniversary tribute to "The Sound of Music" during the Oscar show. Capel used "jigaboo" while describing musical arrangements.
Dawson told viewers Tuesday that he believed Capel would never have used the word if she knew its meaning and history.
The station's statement also referenced the immediate, intense and ongoing Internet response: "This incident has prompted thousands of social media comments and emails from across the viewing area and the nation. Unlike many who have commented, co-anchor Wayne Dawson and many of us at Fox 8 have the advantage of knowing Kristi Capel personally and her work in our community. It is for that reason that we join with the pastors she met with on Tuesday to begin the process of forgiveness and healing."
Capel, a Miss Missouri USA winner in 2005, has been at Channel 8 since early 2011. She became the morning news co-anchor in early 2012.