TV Reporter Identifies Pilots Of Plane Crash With Fake Racist Names
In a shockingly racist move on Friday, San Francisco news station KTVU misreported the names of the pilots aboard Asiana Flight 214, which crashed at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and killed two girls from China.
They reported that the pilot names were
Captain Sum Ting Wong,
Wi Tu Lo,
Ho Lee Fuk, and
Bang Ding Ow.
An anchor later apologized for the error and laid the blame on an NTSB official who purportedly confirmed the names before the piece went on air. A spokesperson for NTSB told ThinkProgress that they never released any names in this case.
KTVU issued an official apology nearly two hours after the noon newscast. In a statement, Tom Raponi, KTVU/KICU Vice President & General Manager said, “We sincerely regret the error and took immediate action to apologize, both in the newscast where the mistake occurred, as well as on our website and social media sites.”
Update:
In a statement, the NTSB now admits they did confirm “Ho Lee Fuk” and other “offensive” names as the pilots, blaming the error on an intern.
Update:
On Monday, NTSB fired the intern who confirmed the offensive names of the pilots. The agency still stands by its statement that the intern approved, but did not come up with the names.
fucking
