Video: WGN Apologizes For Flashing Nazi Patch During Yom Kippur Segment
By Emma G. Gallegos in News on Sep 24, 2015 3:45PM
WGN has issued a more formal apology for flashing the yellow patch Nazis forced Jews to wear in Germany during a segment on Yom Kippur Tuesday evening.
Early Wednesday WGN tweeted out an apology for using the graphic of a yellow patch with the word "Jude," a terrible reminder of the Holocaust. The station has offered a lengthier written apology on its website from General Manager Greg Easterly and News Director Jennifer Lyons. No interns were thrown under the bus, but the station says it's "investigating" how the patch was able to make it on air:
"Last night we ran a story to recognize Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement. Regrettably, we failed to recognize that the artwork we chose to accompany the story contained an offensive symbol. This was an unfortunate mistake. Ignorance is not an excuse. We are extremely embarrassed and we deeply apologize to our viewers and to the Jewish community for this mistake.We are investigating how this situation occurred, reviewing our in-house policies and making changes in order to avoid such mistakes from happening in the future. Thank you for your understanding. We promise to do better."
The station also offered up an apology in its telecast. Tom Negovan, the anchor who appeared on the original segment, said, "We apparently used a symbol that is extremely offensive to the Jewish community. We mistakenly showed a symbol used by Nazi Germany to identify Jews."