KFAB radio station located at 5010 Underwood Ave, has been broadcasting since the 1920s, photographed on Wednesday.
After over 10 hours of deliberation, a jury found ex-police officer guilty of all 3 charges in the May 2020 killing of George Floyd.
OMAHA — Omaha radio personality Chris Baker was fired Wednesday after posting an offensive tweet about the Derek Chauvin verdict.
C. Taylor Walet III, area president for iHeartRadio in Nebraska, said Wednesday that Baker had been fired from KFAB that afternoon.
Baker’s tweet was “completely inappropriate and unacceptable,” Walet said in a statement. “Please know that this does not represent our viewpoint or our values, and we take this situation very seriously. Accordingly, Chris Baker’s employment with our company has been terminated.”
The tweet, posted soon after the former Minneapolis police officer was found guilty in the murder of George Floyd, who was Black, featured a GIF (file image) of four Black men wearing loincloths and body paint and dancing, possibly with spears in front of them. Above the picture was the proclamation: Guilty!
Baker
Reached by phone Wednesday, Baker said the image that accompanied his tweet was a “boomer Twitter moment.”
“That’s not me, that’s not who I really am,” he said.
Baker said he inadvertently selected the wrong image while doing multiple things at once: hosting his show, lining up guests and monitoring the unfolding news after the verdict. He said he tried to get the tweet taken down right away, but struggled to do so.
Asked if he thought the tweet, as it appeared, was racist, he responded:
“I don’t know if that’s a fair question. It’s horrible, is what it was,” he said.
“There’s a difference between being intentional and being a fat-fingered boomer on Twitter. I don’t look at Black people that way.”
Asked to describe the image he was seeking, he said, “people celebrating.”
Baker, who is known for lampooning others, said he didn’t expect people to believe his explanation.
“I apologize for a stupid move. I apologize for the mistake.”
Baker’s tweet, which was deleted Tuesday evening but had been captured in screenshots, was roundly criticized as racist, with some people calling for the conservative talk show host to be fired and his advertisers to be boycotted.
At least two advertisers announced on Twitter that they had pulled their support from the show.
KFAB’s 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. time slot, which is normally filled by Baker, instead featured KFAB regulars “Producer Josh” Odson and “Bird” (Meghan Bird) on Wednesday. Their guest was Tony Conner, president of the Omaha Police Officers Association. The trio had not discussed Baker’s tweet an hour into the program.
However, the wide-ranging interview did touch on violent interactions between the public and police.
Ian Lee, an Omahan who works on political campaigns in Washington, D.C., said he took a screenshot of the tweet when he saw it at about 4:50 p.m. Tuesday. Lee follows Baker and other Nebraska figures on social media.
“It jumped out of the feed, to be quite frank,” he said. “It was just so brazen, so over the line.”
Lee said he made a screenshot of the image because he suspected that Baker would realize his mistake and take it down.
“He should not be able to get away with this.”
Republican State Sen. John McCollister, who has been critical of some members of his own party, including former President Donald Trump, tweeted a screenshot of Baker’s post and wrote: “Racism like this is a FEATURE of conservative talk radio but they usually mask it with dog whistles. But not this time.”
Photos: Reactions across US to guilty verdict in Derek Chauvin trial
People cheer after a guilty verdict was announced at the trial of former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin for the 2020 death of George Floyd, Tuesday, April 20, 2021, in Minneapolis, Minn. Former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin has been convicted of murder and manslaughter in the death of Floyd. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
People cheer after a guilty verdict was announced at the trial of former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin for the 2020 death of George Floyd, Tuesday, April 20, 2021, in Minneapolis, Minn. Former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin has been convicted of murder and manslaughter in the death of Floyd. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
A woman holding a George Floyd poster pumps her fist across the street from the Hennepin County Government Center, Tuesday, April 20, 2021, in Minneapolis, after jurors found former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin guilty on all counts of murder and manslaughter in the death of Floyd during an arrest last May in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)
People cheer after a guilty verdict was announced at the trial of former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin for the 2020 death of George Floyd, Tuesday, April 20, 2021, in Minneapolis, Minn. Former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin has been convicted of murder and manslaughter in the death of Floyd. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
AniYa A motions as she walks through Times Square in New York, while talking on her cell phone after a Minnesota jury found Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin guilty of murder and manslaughter in the death of George Floyd, Tuesday, April 20, 2021. Floyd died last May after Chauvin, a white officer, pinned his knee on or close to the 46-year-old Black man’s neck for about 9 1/2 minutes. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus listen on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, April 20, 2021, as the verdict to announced in the murder trial of former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Kamaile Elderts and Joseph Ravago listen to news reports as they wait Tuesday, April 20, 2021, in Washington, to hear the verdict in Minneapolis, in the murder trial against former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was announced. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
A person reacts on Tuesday, April 20, 2021, in Washington, at Black Lives Matter Plaza near the White House after the verdict in Minneapolis, in the murder trial against former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was announced. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., speaks as Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, listens on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, April 20, 2021, after the jury returned guilty verdicts on all three charges in the murder trial of former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Joseph Ravago wipes tears from the eyes of Kamaile Elderts on Tuesday, April 20, 2021, in Washington, after the verdict in Minneapolis, in the murder trial against former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was announced. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
London Williams, 31, of Harrisburg, Pa., bursts into tears on Tuesday, April 20, 2021, in Washington, after hearing that former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murder and manslaughter in the death of George Floyd. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
In this image from video, former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin, center, is taken into custody as his attorney, Eric Nelson, left, looks on, after the verdicts were read at Chauvin’s trial for the 2020 death of George Floyd, Tuesday, April 20, 2021, at the Hennepin County Courthouse in Minneapolis, Minn. (Court TV via AP, Pool)
People cheer after a guilty verdict was announced at the trial of former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin for the 2020 death of George Floyd, Tuesday, April 20, 2021, in Minneapolis, Minn. Former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin has been convicted of murder and manslaughter in the death of Floyd. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
People cheer after a guilty verdict was announced at the trial of former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin for the 2020 death of George Floyd, Tuesday, April 20, 2021, in Minneapolis, Minn. Former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin has been convicted of murder and manslaughter in the death of Floyd. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
People cheer after a guilty verdict was announced at the trial of former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin for the 2020 death of George Floyd, Tuesday, April 20, 2021, in Minneapolis, Minn. Former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin has been convicted of murder and manslaughter in the death of Floyd. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Charles Hall talks about the verdict in the murder trial against former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin, Tuesday, April 20, 2021, in the neighborhood where George Floyd grew up. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
A woman holding a George Floyd sign stands in the street next to the Hennepin County Government Center, Tuesday, April 20, 2021, in Minneapolis, after jurors found former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin guilty on all counts of murder and manslaughter in the death of Floyd during an arrest last May in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)
Lee Singleton reacts to the verdict in the murder trial against former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin, Tuesday, April 20, 2021, after listening to the verdict in the neighborhood where George Floyd grew up. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
People cheer after a guilty verdict was announced at the trial of former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin for the 2020 death of George Floyd, Tuesday, April 20, 2021, in Minneapolis, Minn. Former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin has been convicted of murder and manslaughter in the death of Floyd. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
People cheer after a guilty verdict was announced at the trial of former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin for the 2020 death of George Floyd, Tuesday, April 20, 2021, in Minneapolis, Minn. Former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin has been convicted of murder and manslaughter in the death of Floyd. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Ronaly Brooks walks past a mural in the neighborhood where George Floyd grew up Tuesday, April 20, 2021, in Houston. Former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin has been convicted of murder and manslaughter in the death of George Floyd, the explosive case that triggered worldwide protests, violence and a furious reexamination of racism and policing in the U.S. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Shermaine Lester, left, poses for a photo with Spike Lee at a rally outside the Barclays Center on Tuesday, April 20, 2021 in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin has been convicted of murder and manslaughter in the death of George Floyd, the explosive case that triggered worldwide protests, violence and a furious reexamination of racism and policing in the U.S. Floyd died last May after Chauvin, a white officer, pinned his knee on or close to the 46-year-old Black man’s neck for about 9 1/2 minutes. (AP Photo/Brittainy Newman)
Philonise Floyd, Attorney Ben Crump and the Rev, Al Sharpton, from left, react after a guilty verdict was announced at the trial of former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin for the 2020 death of George Floyd, Tuesday, April 20, 2021, in Minneapolis, Minn. Former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin has been convicted of murder and manslaughter in the death of Floyd. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)