TV Anchor A.J. Clemente Fired For On-Air Profanity; Clemente Was Making Anchoring Debut On North Dakota News Show

A.J. Clemente's first show as an anchor was also his last. The anchor has been fired by NBC affiliate KFYR in Bismarck, North Dakota, after unintentionally using profanity on-air. The first two words out of Clemente's mouth during the NBC broadcast were "f*cking s*it," but the profanity was ignored by his Bismarck-based co-anchor Van Tieu and she attempted to continue on.

"That couldn't have gone any worse!" tweeted Clemente after the broadcast."Rookie mistake. I'm a free agent. Can't help but laugh at myself and stay positive. "Wish I didn't trip over my 'Freaking Shoes' out of the gate."

KFYR-TV director Monica Hannan apologized for the incident and confirmed yesterday in a statement on Facebook that Clemente had been suspended until further notice.

"He did not realize his microphone was on, but still, that's no excuse. WE train our reporters to always assume that any microphone is live at any time," said Hannan. "All we can do at this point is ask for your forgiveness, and I can offer my personal assurance that I will do my best to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again under my watch."

However, Clemente confirmed this morning that the North Dakota NBC affiliate had decided to fire him.

"Unfortunately KFYRTV has decided to let me go," he wrote on his Twitter account. "Thank you to them and everyone in ND for the opportunity and everyone for the support."

General manager Dick Heidt declined to comment because it was a personal matter. Social media campaigns were created over the weekend to reinstate Clemente and the hashtag "Keep AJ" started trending on Twitter in support of him.

Clemente was a recent graduate of West Virginia University.