Picture it, New York City 2009
Ernie Anastos is the anchor of WNYW, a Fox affiliate, when he is speaking with the weatherman Mike Woods during a broadcast doing the normal back and forth banter.
He paraphrases the slogan made by Frank Perdue, a major chicken producer, who quipped “It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken” and says “It takes a tough man to make a tender forecast.”
And he later said he meant to say “Keep plucking that chicken!” but instead he said, “Keep fucking that chicken!” during a live broadcast as Woods laughed nervously realizing he just dropped the F-Bomb. But then there’s the wider shot of Anastos’ co-anchor Dari Alexander looks frozen stunned which makes it funnier.
It became a viral sensation in the early days of YouTube also being shown on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Arnastos passed away on March 12 at the age of 82. He started out working in broadcast journalism in Boston and Providence, before moving to NYC where he spent most of his career working for WABC, WCBS, WNYW throughout the years.
On Sept. 11, 2001, he was working at WCBS covering the World Trade Center attacks. On March 21, 2017, former Mayor Bill de Blasio named it Ernie Arnastos Day in the city. He interviewed former Presidents George H.W. Bush, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton as well as former South African President Desmon Tutu, and former Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev as well as reporting from Cuba under Fidel Castro in 2004.
Prior to the 2009 on-air slip-up, he had also appeared in several movies as the blockbuster Independence Day and other features as Summer of Sam and The Yards. He received over 30 Emmy Awards and nominations.
As media conglomerates seem to be buying up news stations so they can push their agendas, Arnastos seemed to be one of the last of the old guard of on-air reporters who were fair and objective the way all journalists should be.
Fade out.
Zane Says 