Aug 29, 2012 No Comments ›› Pat Dollard
Washington Post: David Chalian, the Yahoo News Washington Bureau chief, has been fired after getting caught claiming that “they” — Mitt Romney and his fellow Republicans — “are happy to have a party with black people drowning.”
The implication: that Republicans’ decision to continue with their convention despite the hurricane hitting New Orleans means they don’t care about black people.
Chalian’s words were first caught by the conservative media criticism site Newsbusters. Yahoo! has released a statement apologizing for the comment and announcing that Chalian had been terminated.
“David Chalian’s statement was inappropriate and does not represent the views of Yahoo!. He has been terminated effective immediately. We have already reached out to the Romney campaign, and we apologize to Mitt Romney, his staff, their supporters and anyone who was offended.”
Fox Nation: – Yahoo News has fired Washington bureau chief David Chalian after he was caught on a hot-mic during an online video broadcast today saying that Mitt Romney and his wife Ann had no problem with African Americans suffering as a result of Hurricane Isaac, a source familiar with the situation tells POLITICO.
“They’re not concerned at all. They’re happy to have a party with black people drowning,” Chalian said during the ABC News/Yahoo News webcast, in reference to the fact that the GOP convention in Tampa is taking place as Hurricane Isaac makes landfall on the north Gulf coast.
The conservative media watchdog organization NewsBusters first posted audio of Chalian’s remarks, but referred to him as an ABC News employee (and offered slightly inaccurate transcription). ABC News spokesperson Julie Townsend informed the organization that Chalian was with Yahoo.
From Big Journalism: ***UPDATE III: Yahoo just announced they have terminated Chalian effective immediately.
***UPDATE II: Romney camp comments: “It hasn’t even been 24 hours after the primetime speech line up at the Republican National Convention last night, and you can already tell how successful and powerful of a night it really was by the complete and utter meltdown the mainstream media is experiencing today. … Most shockingly, Yahoo! Washington Bureau Chief David Chalian got caught on an ABC webcast saying that Mitt Romney would be “happy to have a party when black people drown.”
***UPDATE: ABC News reached out to Breitbart News to name the man heard mocking the Romneys during this ABC News livecast: David Chalian (pictured) of Yahoo! News. Chalian is a former political director with ABC News, but according to ABC News has no association with the network now. The headline has been changed to reflect this update, as has the story itself.
