When Kevin Steincross has fired from Fox 2 News in 2020 as a result of his significant on-air mistake, he had been there for a long 24 years.
What did the anchor say on-air that caused him to lose his job? This is what we do know:
A mistake by Steincross at Fox 2 News
Steincross made a racial slur on January 18, 2019, when he was giving a presentation about Rev. Martin Luther King. When reporting on a memorial at St. Louis University, he specifically referred to King as “Martin Luther coon Jr.”
If you don’t know what a coon is, it’s a derogatory term for a black person that derives from the history of Blackface and the terrible language surrounding the name raccoon.
Around 5:30 am, the incident was broadcast on the air. Around nine in the morning, viewers began to report it, and Steincross returned to the air to apologize.
He expressed regret for pronouncing the king’s name incorrectly and his admiration for him. He added that the error was an accidental one.
Following the incident, Steincross was terminated.
A week prior to the incident involving Steincross, meteorologist and fellow TV presenter Jeremy Kappell used the same racial epithet while reporting on events at the Martin Luther King Park Ice Rink. He was immediately let go from his job at WHEC-TV.
Following the repeated offenses against the Black community, many viewers began criticizing Steincross and demanding that he be fired. Even though his sexual orientation has not yet been confirmed, some Twitter users contended that the seasoned anchor wasn’t sacked because he is gay.
Even a petition to terminate Steincross’s agreement with the Fox television corporation was started on change.org.
The station at the time placed him on leave without pay as a result of the persistent pressure from the St. Louis County NAACP and viewers. After careful consideration, he was subsequently let go.
Currently, what is Kevin Steincross doing?
In response to the terrifying incident that followed the trauma, Steincross left KTVI on January 26, 2019, promising to fight to earn back the public’s trust. He had worked as a general assignment correspondent for Fox 2 since 1996.
Prior to working at KTVI, he spent the years 1992 to 1996 at KTUL.
Steincross took a break from social media, notably Instagram, following the backlash from Fox 2. Many of his admirers expressed their joy when he released a photo in October 2019, roughly nine months after his hiatus.
Steincross is rather active on social media, and it appears that he enjoys traveling. But when will his followers be able to watch him again on TV? Time will only tell.
