Popular Rochesterradio hosts Kimberly Ray and Barry Beck were fired on Wednesday after making racist comments during Tuesday's live broadcast.
"We made the decision to terminate Kimberly and Beck yesterday as soon as we learned of their comments and informed them early this morning," the president of the upstate New York market for iHeartMedia, Robert J. Morgan, said per Rochester First. "We will not tolerate this kind of behavior, which is antithetical to our core values and beliefs and to our commitment to our community and everyone in it."
During Tuesday's show, Kimberly and Beck decided to discuss the attack of a local couple during the city's Black Lives Matter protest. According to reports, the couple was attacked because they called the group of protesters a racial slur.
"Let me ask you a question," Ray said. "Were they acting n-word-ish? ... Were they acting n-word-ly?"
Beck replied by saying that the group of people was acting like "thugs." Another radio host tried to tell them they weren't allowed to say such remarks and make these assumptions because they were white, but Ray and Beck retorted by stating that they don't "appreciate" this double standard.
"If she had been a black woman, the n-word wouldn't have been that big of deal," Beck continued. "But a white woman calling three black people the n-word—bam, we're going bad."
Ray went on to say she understands the meaning of the word "very well." She also doesn't think anyone was offended by the way they were talking on the air.
Backlash started to swell from people who heard Kimberly and Beck's comments. The listeners took to social media where they demanded repercussions.
This isn't the first time Kimberly and Beck have created a firestorm. In 2014, the duo was fired from another Rochester radio station after making hateful comments about transgender people. They were also sued in 2014 by a local veteran and in 2015 by a man they accused of being a drug dealer on a live broadcast.
