Racist meteorologist Jeremy Kappell spoke of the weather at Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park in downtown Rochester, where a Zamboni smoothed over the community ice skating rink.

When he uttered the park’s name, Kappell inserted another word that has been used as a racial slur toward black people.

It looked gray at “Martin Luther coon King Jr. Park,” Kappell said, appearing to stumble over the word “coon.”

Three days later, News10NBC general manager Richard A. Reingold announced on air that Kappell no longer worked for the TV station. Reingold said he was “terribly sorry to all of our viewers” and added in a statement online that he regrets the station “did not immediately interrupt our broadcast and apologize on the spot.”

The racist meteorologist claims his word choice was nothing more than a flub, and he has waged a campaign on social media and through formal statements defending his intent.

His Twitter account is flooded with retweets of supportive messages from fans, and he has received support from some journalists, including Al Roker.

I think @JeremyKappell made an unfortunate flub and should be given the chance to apologize on @news10nbc Anyone who has done live tv and screwed up (google any number of ones I’ve done) understands. — Al Roker (@alroker) January 9, 2019

In a video Kappell made with his wife and posted to Facebook, he called the broadcast clip a “simple misunderstanding.”

“If you watch me regularly you know that I contain a lot of information in my weather forecasts, which forces me to speak fast,” he said. “Unfortunately, I spoke a little too fast when I was referencing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”

So fast, Kappell said, he “jumbled a couple of words.”

“In my mind I knew I had mispronounced, but there was no malice,” Kappell said in the video. “I had no idea the way it came across to many people.”

Kappell also apologized to anyone who was hurt by his words. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Truth Radio.

A heartfelt thanks to all those who have been supporting us. I wanted to take this time to explain our side of the story. Please keep my family in your prayers. Posted by Jeremy Kappell on Monday, January 7, 2019