AJ Clemente's first day as a news presenter for a local North Dakota TV channel could not have been much worse.
Mr Clemente was fired on Monday after he opened his first - and indeed last - broadcast for the NBC affiliate station KFYR-TV by swearing into a live microphone.
In video footage of the incident, which has now gone viral, Mr Clemente is heard saying “f****ng s**t” before his colleague, Van Tieu, who, apparently thrown by his language, then stumbles when introducing him to viewers. Mr Clemente does not get much better when he begins talking about his history. “I'm used to, you know, from being from the East Coast,” he says.
“I want to apologise for an incident that occurred prior to our early newscast this evening, when one of our employees used profanity on air,” KFYR-TV news director Monica Hannan wrote in a Facebook post. “He did not realise his microphone was on, but still, that's no excuse.” - The Independent