Bob Goosmann, chief meteorologist for KRLD radio, resigned this week. Image courtesy of CBS Radio.
The Dallas weatherman who resigned after making a racially-insensitive comment about African-Americans killed at the hands of police says he had no idea the word “thug” carried a racial connotation.
The forecast isn’t looking so sunny for weatherman Bob Goosmann, who stepped down as KRLD-AM’s chief meteorologist Saturday. Goosmann is in hot water after posting a racially-charged Facebook comment in which he referred to the victims of police violence as “slain thugs.”
The distasteful remark came after Mothers of the Movement, a group of women who lost their children to police and/or gun violence, appeared on the stage of the Democratic National Convention last week. Among them were the mothers of Trayvon Martin, Sandra Bland, Michael Brown, and Jordan Davis.
“As many of you have probably noticed, I’ve stayed away from politics on FB,” Goosmann wrote. “The DNC parading the mothers of slain thugs around their stage has me furious.”
Social media users dragged the weatherman for his disgusting post, after which he deleted it from his page. The online backlash was enough to rain on his parade, however, as KRLD announced Goosmann’s resignation just two days later. According to Raw Story, a Twitter user angered over the weatherman’s statement took a screenshot of the post and sent it to his employer.
.@KRLD Is @KRLDGoosmannWX your employee? #DemsInPhilly pic.twitter.com/AA7XYQTVx4
— Torraine Walker (@TorraineWalker) July 28, 2016
Paul Mann, the station’s news director, said Friday that the weatherman would step down as chief meteorologist effective immediately, the Dallas Morning News reports.
Goosmann has since tried to save face by asserting that his comment had no racist intent. He also claimed he was unaware of the racial implication attached to the word ‘thug,‘ even though all the mothers on the DNC stage were African-American whose children lost their lives during non-violent interactions with police.
“I was angry that the DNC used these mothers to garner votes, and that was it,” he wrote in a comment on DallasNews.com.
“I used the word thugs in my post, but I thought a thug was just a violent person,” Goosmann continued. “The definition of thug does not mention any race. I will say I talked with an African-American acquaintance and he told me that he feels like when he hears the word, it is in reference to an African-American individual. I had NO IDEA.”
Goosmann has since apologized and noted that he “rightly” would’ve been fired for his comment had he not resigned.
“What I say online, no matter where, reflects upon my station and employer,” he said. “KRLD is a great station, providing invaluable information to all listeners, and I am sorry if they have had to deal with all the repercussions.”
According to the New York Daily News, Goosmann has no plans of returning to broadcast.
