After using a Snoop Dogg phrase that was judged racially offensive during an on-air broadcast, a longtime Mississippi news anchor appears to no longer be employed by the WLBT news crew.
Since the March 8 incident, Barbie Bassett, a well-liked anchor and the station’s first chief meteorologist in its more than 50-year history, hasn’t been spotted on the NBC affiliate station. Her biography is no longer accessible on the company’s website.
Snoop Dogg’s wine brand, Cali Wine Collection, and the release of his Snoop Cali Blanc variety were the topics of Bassett’s remark.
Longtime Mississippi news anchor Barbie Bassett was a beloved veteran news anchor, but she was White and used a Snoop Dogg lyric on air that offended blacks, who were already upset with her for using the term Grandmammy, supposedly a “slave term,” on air 4 https://t.co/b2mJaoiyuf… pic.twitter.com/KdR4mlRBol
Ads— 🩸 Robert Jones 🩸 (@Robert____Jones) March 25, 2023
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.
Four months ago, she called Cameron Poe, her co-anchor, and Poe’s grandmother “grandmammy”—a nickname African-American slaves used for their grandmothers. Poe is black. This most recent remark was made just after Cameron Poe’s grandmother’s name was used to reference to her.
@BarbieBassettTV @WLBT 😮 there’s NO way you started w/ a “girl/sis…” then advised her to go pick up a chocolate pie & your finale was referencing her “grand mammy?” You MUST know the history of the word “Mammy,” yet you thought it was ok to use? 🤯#wlbt #barbiebassett #JSU pic.twitter.com/bVaG7JJH29
— J.P. Haynes (@jpaige31) October 29, 2022
During the October 2022 broadcast, Basset made an offensive comment that she later apologized for, calling it “insensitive and hurtful.” She also promised to take part in training to “better understand our history and our people.”
During the October 2022 broadcast, Basset made an offensive comment that she later apologized for, calling it “insensitive and hurtful.” She also promised to take part in training to “better understand our history and our people.”
‘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.
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