It was the stuff of viral-video legend when New York anchorwoman Sue Simmons used the f-word on live television in 2008. The Daily News reports that the longtime broadcaster said she was actually playfully talking to her co-anchor, Chuck Scarborough, and thought she was off the air.
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Simmons, who retired from NBC News earlier this year, spoke about the incident on Wednesday night during a gala celebrating her career, which was thrown by Essence magazine and the New York Association of Black Journalists.
"On many a night it was hard to get his attention because he fell in love with his computer thing, his Google thing," Simmons said of Scarborough.
Thinking they were off-air, Simmons cursed at her colleague, who was once again immersed in electronics.
"You know, he still didn't hear me?" Simmons joked. "Everybody in New York heard me, believe you me. I heard from a lot of people."
Of course she was mortified when she realized what had happened.
"I got caught all the time. I got caught spinning around in my chair. I got caught doing a lot of things, but I never got caught saying that awful word," she said.
Read more at the Daily News.
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