NEWS

Radio employee quits after hoax comments, reasserts view that shooting of journalists was fake

Jon Swedien
JSWEDIEN@NEWS-LEADER.COM
Shots rang out seconds after this live interview by a WDBJ crew n Franklin County, Va.

A local radio station employee who was suspended for suggesting on air that the recent shooting deaths of two Virginia journalists caught on tape were a hoax is not backing down from his remarks and has quit his job.

In follow-up comments made on social media, the employee, Rick Kennedy — who goes by the on-air name Rick Masters — said he stands by his comments made on the Sunday morning call-in show “Cracker Barrel” and that his suspension was unfair.

On Friday, he told the News-Leader he still believes the shooting was faked.

“There is no question in my mind it’s a hoax,” said Kennedy, who worked part time at the station.

As for why any group would pull such a hoax, Kennedy said, “Why? Who knows? Probably to create more conversation about gun laws. You know Sandy Hook was the granddaddy of that stuff.”

Kennedy also believes the Sandy Hook school shooting was a conspiracy, he said

Kennedy had worked as a telephone screener on the Sunday morning call-in show “Cracker Barrel,” which airs on KTTS FM, KSGF FM and KSGF AM. The show’s host, Joe Rios, was also suspended. The stations are owned by the E.W. Scripps Company.

Stations manager Rex Hansen on Thursday confirmed that Kennedy had quit. Hansen declined to comment further.

The remarks were made during the Aug. 30 episode of “Cracker Barrel,” four days after television reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward from the WDBJ7 station in Roanoke, Virginia, were shot by a former co-worker on live television.

Kennedy and Rios said on air their suspicions about the event were spurred by videos that had been posted on the Internet. Kennedy said he believed the shooting was a hoax and that others should decide for themselves.

The E.W. Scripps Company issued an apology for the segment, and both Kennedy and Rios were suspended.

The comments they made about the slayings were “not factual, disrespectful and downright wrong,” Hansen said.

A post on Facebook belonging to Kennedy explains his reasons for quitting and includes a link to a YouTube video containing audio from the radio segment that he says led to his discipline. The News-Leader has been unable to listen to the full audio of that day’s show because it has not been posted on the stations’ websites.

“Are we living in such a rank and file culture of political correctness that radio hosts on call-in talk shows are not allowed to give their opinions?” Kennedy said in the 1,016-word post describing his reasons for quitting.

The YouTube post linked to the Facebook page contains just over seven minutes of audio. During this part of the show Kennedy said he didn’t believe the shooting was real.

He later described his reaction to watching videos of the shooting posted on the Internet, which he thought showed the shooting to be fake: “Just right away, it was just obvious to me that nobody had been shot. That’s how I saw it.”

In describing the segment to the News-Leader earlier this month, Hansen said one of the employees suggested the shooting was a hoax “to the degree that there might have been some thinking that it was intended to influence gun laws, so they fabricated the event.”

There is no discussion of gun laws in the seven minutes of audio posted on YouTube. However, Kennedy said he does remember that coming up in the on-air discussion.

Hansen told the News-Leader earlier this month that Rios’ and Kennedy’ comments were inappropriate and inaccurate. At that time he said, “Well, unfortunately two people died. The camera man and his anchor partner. That was a fact.”

Kennedy said he’s looking for another job in radio.

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