Anchor calls Lady Gaga’s songs ‘jiga— music’

Cleveland news anchor Kristi Capel of Fox 8 shocked viewers when she said the racial slur “jiga—” several times on air. Capel and her co-anchor were discussing Lady Gaga’s Oscar performance when Capel dropped the j-bomb. Capel made the serious error as she talked about Gaga’s tribute to the “Sound of Music” during the awards show last night.

“It’s hard to really hear her voice with all that jiga— music that she does – whatever you want to call it – jiga—. She has a gorgeous voice. Very nice,” she said as her co-anchor, who appears to be black, laughed in surprise. Capel appeared to be referring to Gaga’s original music as distracting from Gaga’s own vocal talent.

Her co-anchor looked stunned and laughed uncomfortably, while Capel went on and repeated “jiga—” and waved her arms around, smiling.

Capel later wrote on Twitter that she had never heard the slur before. “I deeply regret my insensitive comment. I didn’t know the meaning and would never intentionally use hurtful language. I sincerely apologize,” she said.

It looks like Capel has managed to hold onto her job, though. Fox 8 news director Andy Fishman told the Daily News: “Kristy apologized on the air shortly after making the remark. She did not know what the word meant but that is no excuse for using it.We have spoken with her and are confident nothing like this will happen again.”