Barbie Bassett, a television news anchor for NBC affiliate WLBT, based in Jackson, Mississippi, was recently removed from her position after quoting Snoop Dogg live on air earlier this month. She hasn't been back at her job since the March 8 incident. AL.com explains:
Barbie Bassett has not returned to NBC affiliate WLBT since the March 8 broadcast and is no longer listed as a member of the news team on the station's website, the Clarion Ledger reports.
"As I am sure you can understand, WLBT is unable to comment on personnel matters," Ted Fortenberry, the station's regional vice president and general manager, said in a social media post.
LockharTVMedia tweeted a clip of the incident, with the text:
Longtime Mississippi news anchor appears to no longer be employed with the news team after saying, "Fo shizzle, my nizzle" on air. Long-time WLBT journalist and meteorologist Barbie Bassett is no longer listed as a member of its news team as social media reports suggest she has been removed from her morning anchor position for racially insensitive comments. Bassett's bio has been removed from the WLBT Website where all of the on-air bios are located.
Charlamagne The God recently defended the news anchor, speculating that she probably didn't even know what the Snoop Dogg lyrics meant. Daily Mail explains:
Discussing the incident with DJ Envy he said: 'She can't say, 'Fo s*****e, my n****e?'
'Oh, I guess cause n****e is a derivative of the N-word. I'm saying that in context. I didn't mean to say… I'm not using that word.'
The word is sometimes used as slang for the n-word, and is considered offensive.
But DJ Envy said that he didn't think the use of it was 'fireable', with Charlamagne interjecting: 'She might not even know what 'N***e' means, yo.
