Mississippi news anchor is taken off-air for using Snoop Dogg lyric that uses a variation of the N-word
- Barbie Bassett has not been seen on-air since March 8 at the WLBT news station
- The station’s vice president and general manager issued a statement
- In October 2022 Bassett apologized for an offensive remark to her co-anchor
A longtime Mississippi news anchor appears to no longer be employed with the WLBT news team after quoting a Snoop Dogg lyric deemed racially insensitive during an on air broadcast.
Barbie Bassett, a popular anchor and the station’s first chief meteorologist in its 50 plus year history, hasn’t been seen on the NBC-affiliate station since the March 8 incident. Her bio no longer appears on the company’s website.
Bassett’s comment was during a segment that was talking about Snoop Dogg’s wine company, Cali Wine Collection- and the launch of his Snoop Cali Blanc variety.
Before the broadcast ended, Bassett, who is white, repeated a famous Snoop slang saying, ‘Fo shizzle, my [epithet].’
The racial epithet referred to is one for black people.
Morning news anchor Barbie Bassett is seen with her co-anchors during on-air broadcast. Bassett hasn’t been seen on air since the March 8 incident after making the racially insensitive remark
Bassett is seen speaking to viewers on March 8 on what appears to be her final broadcast during a ‘What’s Happening Wednesday’s’ Facebook live segment
The former beauty pageant queen had been cited in October 2022 for making a racially insensitive remark to a fellow co-anchor that she late apologized for
This latest recent comment comes only four months after she referred to her co-anchor, Cameron Poe’s grandmother as ‘grandmammy’ – a term African-American slaves used for their grandmothers – Poe is black.
At the time, Basset apologized to the viewers and her co-workers for the offensive remark during the October 2022 broadcast, calling it ‘insensitive and hurtful’ and said she was going to participate in training to ‘better understand our history and our people.’
After the firestorm, WLBT Vice President and General Manager Ted Fortenberry issued a statement on social media: ‘As I am sure you can understand, WLBT is unable to comment on personnel matters.’
When DailyMail.com contacted the news station for a comment, an on-air employee declined and directed all questions to Grey Media, the news organization that owns WLTB.
Bassett has not made a public statement on the matter since the incident.
But did issue an apology following the October on-air debacle.
‘Last Friday on our newscast ‘Today at 11’, I used a term that was offensive to many in our audience and to my coworkers here at WLBT.
‘Though not intentional, I now understand how my comment was both insensitive and hurtful. I have apologized to Carmen Poe.
‘Now, I would like to apologize to you. That is not the heart of who I am. And for that, I humbly ask for your forgiveness and I apologize to everyone I have offended.
‘I will learn from this and participate in training so I can better understand our history and our people.
‘I can’t mend the hurt my comment caused. I pray you’ll forgive me and that you’ll extend grace through this awful mistake.’
Bassett’s Facebook page has removed any reference to WLBT news station, as per Saturday morning.
Phillip Lews, a senior editor at the Huffington Post posted the news of Bassett to his Twitter that garnered nearly 2 million views.
‘My man on the end….wearing the blue suit knew it was a wrap for her,’ one person wrote.
Another commented: ‘This isn’t the first time she’s made a ‘mistake’ like this so I’d bet that’s why she’s no longer there. I used to work in News in MS. She was there for decades and people have complained about her before.’
