YLE sacks newsreader over beer gag The Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE) has sacked Kimmo Wilska, a newsreader who pretended to drink from a beer bottle during a bulletin featuring a report on alcohol licence inspections on Wednesday.
Wilska had worked for YLE's English-language service on an occasional basis.
Timo Kämäräinen, a managing editor in charge of the English-language service, said the public broadcaster did not tolerate the kind of behaviour seen on Wednesday in any of its news bulletins.
http://www.helsinkitimes.fi/htimes/domestic-news/general/12843-yle-sacks-newsreader-over-beer-gag-.html--
Finnish news anchor gets fired for making joke, world comes to his aidWilska clarified after he was let go that the beer-bottle stunt (it might not have even had actual alcohol in it) was not meant to be seen by viewers; it was a studio joke only his co-workers were supposed to see. But the camera cut back too quick, catching him unawares, which explains why he looks so surprised. If only he'd done a little "wackety-schmackety-doo" dance, he might have been able to save his job. Or maybe not, but it would have been pretty hilarious.
At any rate, he lost the job. Happily for humanity, the world is not taking the injustice of joke-killing laying down -- the whole thing went down just yesterday, and already, Wilska is enjoying an outpouring of support via a Facebook page that's already 40,000 strong.
Thank God for the Internet: Uniting people who can laugh because they are not yet dead inside, all over the world.
http://blogs.westword.com/showandtell/2010/10/finnish_news_anchor_gets_fired.php--
Topic: Finnish news anchro fired over beer gag, internet shows support (Read 1576 times)