Rochester Duo Kimberly & Beck Fired

• Controversial Rochester, NY radio veterans Kimberly Ray & Barry Beck have been fired — again — this time from their afternoon show on iHeartMedia Classic Rock WAIO (Radio 95.1) after racially charged comments made on Tuesday following a confrontation between a couple and a group of looters after a local Black Lives Matters protest on Saturday.

According to coverage by Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, during a conversation about the incident, Ray wondered aloud if the attackers were acting “n-word-ish” and “n-word-ly.” Ray did not actually use the n-word. Beck repeatedly referred to the attackers as “thugs.” They went on to discuss and question why they can’t use the term “n-word,” concluding that, “No one’s offended by that.” The exchange is captured here.

Not surprisingly, the exchange set off an almost immediate social-media firestorm, including comments from at least one horrified co-worker — Deanna King, a castmember of Radio 95.1’s Brother Wease Show, made her feelings of disgust known publicly in the early hours of Wednesday morning in a tweet that said, “I have never and would never spew such racist hate. I’ve told management I won’t work at a company that employs people like this. I’m raising my children to love everyone and stand up for what is right. I will, too.”

In a statement, Robert Morgan, Market President of iHeartMedia Upstate New York said, “We made the decision to terminate Kimberly and Beck yesterday as soon as we learned of their comments and informed them early this morning. 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.”

This isn’t exactly the first time that Kimberly & Beck have been in hot water over inflamatory on-air comments — almost exactly six years ago they were fired their 13-year morning gig across the street on Entercom Rock WBZA (98.9 The Buzz) after they went on a 12-minute rant about the city’s decision to award benefits to municipal employees who are transgender or gender non-conforming. Oh, and they’ve also been sued several times for various other on-air indiscretions.