John’s “F****ing” Fun

Today American Morning co-host John Roberts took a delightfully witty tack to more directly address his “f*****ing” faux pas a week and half ago. (As Carpe Diem readers may remember, on June 19 a frustrated John seemed to say “frucking” and guest Carol Costello called him on it.)* Last Thursday John obliquely alluded to his gaffe (after a weather segment), saying, “I was thinking of another word that ends with ‘y’ to describe the weather here but I’ve been having trouble with language lately: So, I’m just going to leave it alone.”** Today he took his misstep head-on with good humor.

As AM’s final block began with a live shot of the Capitol, John read, “Good morning, Washington, D.C. As the sun comes up over the Capitol building, most cloudy [abruptly stopping].” Almost echoing his earlier remarks, he exclaimed,  “Who writes this FLIPPING stuff that goes in the teleprompter! It’s not cloudy there: it’s gorgeous….They do this to annoy me!”

As John segued to Carol Costello, he said, “Carol, you are the one who put that in the teleprompter, right? Because you loved it so much Friday a week ago Friday when we  had it wrong in Myrtle Beach in Charleston.” Carol saucily commented, “I like when you say words like ‘flipping’ on the air and worse sometimes. ” Roberts declared, “I decided to follow the Napolean Dynamite principle: “Flipping is as racy as it gets here.” Carol responded, “That’s good. That will not insult anyone. At least, I think so.”

After Carol tossed back to John and co-host Kiran Chetry and before the program ended, John said, “Make sure that you keep those cards and letters coming because we love to see them.” Immediately, Kiran cutely snickered and left it there. Kudos, John, for a fun take on your “frucking” faux pas.

*http://jakeho.wordpress.com/2009/06/23/johns-fing-bridge/

**http://jakeho.wordpress.com/2009/06/25/roberts-fricken-not-frucking/

John’s “F****ing Bridge”

American Morning’s John Roberts made sure he got it right today. As the 6 o’clock (ET) C Block began with a picturesque shot of Charleston with its beautiful bridge in the background, he laughed, “It’s Charleston, not Myrtle Beach.”

Befuddled, co-host Kiran Chetry asked, “Why? Why are you laughing? What do you mean?” John answered, “You weren’t here Friday, were you? That’s right: we had a little incident….It’s that flipping bridge!” He added, “I’ll fill you in on the whole thing later.”

For the AM audience who were not tuned in Friday, the author will fill you in. When John opened a segment with guest co-host Carol Costello to a similar shot of Charleston Friday, he identified the city as Myrtle Beach. When he realized his mistake, AM’s abashed Wikiman declared that he knew that “freaking” bridge: Then growing more agitated, he called it a “frucking” bridge. Surprised and amused, Carol asked if he could say that on television, and John promptly responded that they would know if he returned Monday. Obviously, he did.