News Anchor ‘Floored’ After Reading Suicide Jokes Co-Worker Allegedly Slipped Into Teleprompter During Live Broadcast
A Kentucky news anchor says she was “floored” and “confused” when, during a recent broadcast, her teleprompter script included jokes about suicide that she unwittingly read on-air.
In a thread on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday, Wave 3 News anchor Maira Ansari apologized to viewers who’d witnessed the incident. “Something horrible happened on our newscast on #wave3news at 3:00 p.m on September 22nd while I was anchoring,” tweeted Maira Ansari, an anchor at the NBC affiliate.
The segment in question dealt with National Suicide Prevention Month. As Ansari read from the prepared script, she slowly seemed to realize that what she was saying did not match the tone or content of a public service announcement intended to remind viewers of the suicide hotline number, 988.
“Now, talking about it doesn’t always help,” she read. “And if you hit your breaking point, instead of just taking your life, do something one step short of it. Quit your job and move to China to become, uh, a rice…” By that point, Ansari realized something had gone very wrong. “Don’t quit your job,” she said, looking away from the prompter and down at her notes. “There are resources available. Talk to your loved ones and [get some] help.” (Watch video of the moment here.)
On X, Ansari steadfastly stated that she was aghast at what had transpired and alleged that a co-worker, whom she identifies only as a producer, was responsible for the script change.
“If anyone knows me you will know that is the words that were read are not how I feel or think,” she wrote. “Secondly, thank you to those who have shown me love and support. I truly appreciate you. Suicide is not a joke. Mental health is something I am passionate about. I talk about it through my podcast and my stories. I try to make the dialogue personal. So, when my producer intentionally wrote terrible things about suicide and made light of it…I WAS FLOORED. I HAD NO IDEA IT WAS IN THE PROMPTER. That is why I was so confused.”
She continued: “I wish it never happened. I’m honestly embarrassed. I would never joke about something like that. I’m also disturbed that I was set up like this by a co-worker.” And later, in an X reply, Ansari said she “always” reads her scripts, but “This one slipped my eyes.”
WAVE 3 declined to comment for this story. On Thursday, the network’s X account reposted Ansari’s thread in full. TVLine also has reached out to WAVE 3’s parent company, Gray TV, for comment.
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org. Text MHA to 741741 to connect with a trained Crisis Counselor from Crisis Text Line.
This is sickening and I hope the person responsible is fired.
Ms. Ansari should have put the producer on bast. Utterly disturbing and disgusting. They should be fired and blackballed for this.
There is NO QUESTION this producer is going to get FIRED! And rightfully so.
This incident is about as bad as when San Francisco news station KTVU misreported the names of the pilots aboard Asiana Flight 214
What the heck is wrong with that producer?! That is so messed up and cruel. I hope he’s forced to apologize before he clears his desk.
And I have to say the “joke” is, super racist as well. What a creep.
At she didn’t tell San Diego to go f themselves.
… What?
It’s a joke from “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.”
Though it hasn’t been stated here, I’m extremely hopeful that the producer was fire immediately.