Texas TV Reporter Apologizes For Smoking On-Air…While Covering Oil Fire
- Posted on June 29, 2011 at 9:49am by
Jonathon M. Seidl
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Where there‘s smoke there’s fire, the saying goes. But in the case of one Texas reporter, where there‘s fire there’s smoke. Cigarette smoke.
When KHOU-TV (Houston) reporter Brad Woodard was sent to cover an oil tank fire last Friday, he decided to light up while waiting for his live shot. How do we know? Because the station cut to him early and caught him puffing:
Smoking is not a crime. And in this great country of ours, people have the right to puff on a cigarette. But when it makes it on-air, and while covering a fire and the cigarette is dropped on the ground, that doesn’t come across the greatest. Woodard understands that, and issued an apology.
According to him, the incident was “embarrassing.” Still, he did take time to clear up some misconceptions about what he did and the circumstances surrounding the on-air light-up, including the extreme drought conditions facing Texas. His apology is below, courtesy of TVSpy:
Dear Viewers,
Some of you have raised concerns about my live report from Chambers County on Friday, June 24th. Due to a technical glitch, I was observed on camera smoking and extinguishing a cigarette, something I find both professionally and personally embarrassing. I was reporting from the scene of… a fire at an abandoned “tank farm” formerly used to store petroleum products. The fire was well under control at the time of my report, and I was standing on concrete when I discarded my cigarette. I also made sure it was extinguished following my brief report.
Apparently, some of you are under the impression I was reporting from the scene of a wild fire. That was not the case. My bad habit aside, I’m very cognizant of the extreme drought conditions facing this state. I report on those conditions daily and care very deeply about those affected. That said, I sincerely apologize to those of you who were offended. We appreciate…I appreciate…your viewership and your concerns.
Regards,
Brad Woodard
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Comments (70)
Wyd Stantz
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 11:25amI would like to know what Scott Baker and Company’s intentions are on these types of stories? They are not news worthy stories. If they are trying to show us how big of pansies people are becoming for getting offended over this stuff, that is one thing. However, it appears that “The Blaze” feels the apology was deserved.
There is nothing wrong with what that guy did… he should apologize for apologizing!
Report Post »Oil_Ranger
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 11:24amLOL get a grip, geeeeesh
Report Post »trinketer
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 11:22amDamn Sissy!
Report Post »THX-1138
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 11:14amLynch Him!
(What the *Hell* has happened to this nation?)
Report Post »inferno
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 11:13amOf all the BS we see reporters deliver on a daily basis, we choose to ridicule a guy smoking a legal substance on camera. If my memory serves me correctly, we have an acting president who is ignored by those same if he lights up. I would be willing to bet most of those people would vote to legalize dope.
Report Post »betsp
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 11:11amLast time I checked, smoking is legal. Now, let‘s do a story on Obama’s illegal campaign contribution tactics.
Report Post »rukiddinme59
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 11:08amIt’s NOT about smoking. It’s about professional conduct on camera. I’m a videographer by trade and what he did was a big no no in the business. He a representative of the station he works for when he’s on air. I don’t know that it begs an apology but his boss should have jumped his case about it and looks like he did. I’ll say this, it isn‘t news and it’s not even a human interest story. It‘s a fluff piece and that’s it.
Report Post »orkydorky
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 4:01pmBeing professional has nothing to do with smoking. I would say having an abortion would be much less professional than puffing on a legal cigarette, but the PC people seem to think it’s up to them instead of God to judge!
Report Post »chips1
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 11:00amI wouldn’t apologize for smoking until Libs make Barney apologize for his puffing. The camera glitch was a mistake by the station, not the reporter.
Report Post »Race
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 10:57amFor cryin’ out loud, grow some balls, dude.
Report Post »Mr. Oshawott
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 10:33amOkay, so he’s caught smoking a cigarette. So what?! As much as I hate smoking, Mr. Woodward has a right to do that.
Report Post »Whostolemypig
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 10:32amMore health problems are cause by the stress of people minding other people business than smoking. A lot of these idiots that complain about second hand smoke would rather run along the streets and highways and suck up all that good health exhaust from their SUV’s. Now that makes good sense.
Report Post »nomercy63
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 10:32amIt is legal! He didn’t know they were coming to him! Stop with the I am sorry crap all the time! Cowboy up!!
Report Post »Independent American
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 10:28amGood news: It’s a slow news day. That would be the only reason to air such a stupid, non-news story.
Report Post »T-2
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 10:17amhe reminds of my high school basketball coach who smokes driving us to the game, in the locker at half time and at the end of the game, then again driving us back…we had a terrible team…my comment is as relevant as this story.
Report Post »chips1
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 11:07amBut it‘s OK for BO’s Illegals to force Arizona and New Mexico to smoke ?
Report Post »catndahat
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 10:14amGood Lord, what is the huge deal? So he was smoking….yes, not the most professional, but again, does it really matter?
Report Post »kreese
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 10:10amI thought smoking was legal? Oh well, soon, he can smoke pot. There won’t be a peep from the Left!
Report Post »fobama
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 10:09amI just love when he realizes he is live, kind like my kid when I catch her in the act of doing wrong, the O sh&& look!! that guys face…. priceless!
Report Post »moreteaplease
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 10:07amC’mon!!! It’s not like the camera panned around and caught him taking a leak in the bushes for crying out loud.
The liberal whiners are the kids that we use to call tattle tales, momma’s boy, teachers pet…because they were always laying in wait for someone to put a toe over the line so they could run and tell on them; what a miserable existence that must be.
Report Post »georgeisn6
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 10:05amI say we have gotten the most pressing problem faceing the nation out of the way‘ now we can go back to the busness of getting the cat’s down out of the tree’s.
Report Post »texasfarmer
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 10:00amAhhh, the do good police.
Report Post »Now if it was a joint they would have celebrated his right to light.
BFD
SpankDaMonkey
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 9:56am.
Report Post »Who Cares? This lump can smoke all he want’s. It’s his choice. I quit that was my choice. Leave smokers alone….. Smok‘em if you got’em people……………….
enduro
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 9:55amI am a non smoker and i wish people would not smoke for health reasons but if he wants to smoke so be it. These ******** want to control every aspect of your life.
Report Post »Carl1 Supports Israel
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 10:03amI’m not a smoker, But I don’t have a problem with him smoking. If he wants to die? Go ahead and puff away!!!!
Report Post »booger71
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 11:09amEveryone is going to die.
Report Post »randy
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 9:54amApologize? For what?
Report Post »Pi$$ off a Liberal, Light them up if you got em!
Partygirl
Posted on June 30, 2011 at 12:46amExactly! He should not have apologized or put it out either. Time to stand up to the nanny state. Like someone else said. Genetics, you will get what you will get. Smoking is not as bad as they say. My mother smoked her entire life she is 91 my uncle also smoked his entire life died at 91 because he had a cold and hated doctors. If he had gotten antibiotics he would have been fine and continued to smoke to 100. Give me a break!
Report Post »TRONINTHEMORNING
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 9:54amI’m just laughing; you can’t make it up.
Report Post »Heitah
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 11:06amI’m a reporter. I know how much it sucks to stand up in front of a camera for minutes on end multiple times a day waiting for your “hit.” But if he doesn’t want situations like these, he has got to suck it up – and not smoke/cuss/sing/pick nose etc. anytime there’s a camera on him.
Report Post »I.Gaspar
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 9:52amOh my God!!!
Report Post »He smoked!!!
And he put out the cigarette on the ground!!!
I say life in prison for this guy!!!!
Comev on…smoking is stupid, but so is this story.
SpankDaMonkey
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 9:57am.
Report Post »Thank Goodness he was not having a Weiner moment……………
Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 10:05amI wonder what the look o n his face would have been like if someone said to him while on the air:
“Oh my…where is all that gas coming from…”
Report Post »Dustyluv
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 10:07amI dont smoke but why the apology? Now if he were eating a cheesburger Michelle should have him shot!
Report Post »afishfarted
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 10:23amaint is ashame that an America has to apologize for using a legal product on air, even going so far as to say he’s embarrassed about his “bad habit”, while moral decay is accepted without apology.
Report Post »Lite that bad boy up bub
drattastic
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 10:38amUuh ….So what
Report Post »fastfacts
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 10:59amAt least he didn’t throw that cigarette into oil and start another fire.
Other than that why are we having a problem with someone smoking, remember the criticism on Obama or Boehner. Smoking is smoking and it is a choice.
Yesterday Boehner had a great interview with Hannity and the deficit debate: http://tiny.cc/jcgh4
Report Post »TexasCommonSense
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 11:02amSmoking is a disgusting habit, but it’s still legal.
Report Post »nothingbuthetruth
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 11:03amare you kidding. What he does doesnt affect my life. smoke away. It is your genes that will tell you how you will die. So if you parents smoked and lived to 80 you should be in good shape.
Report Post »booger71
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 11:07amBig deal, he was a wuss for apologizing.
Report Post »EgoBrain
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 11:11amOh big freaking deal. No crime in smoking. Cripe. He owed no one an apology.
Report Post »TomFerrari
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 11:19amBut, if he were smoking pot, that would be A-O-K !!
LOL, our government needs to get small – REALLY SMALL!!!
Congress sits around fighting over tobacco, marijuana, ephedra, testosterone, lightbulbs and delta-smelt-minnows, while we our nation literally is burning to the ground and racing into financial ruin.
GIMME A BREAK!!
No apology – it is legal – unprofessional? He wasn’t supposed to be on-air yet, so, no. Not even unprofessional.
As for the other items I mentioned, I very much have to agree with Ron Paul. We should not be legislating morality – that is not the job of our federal government.
Ephedra – helped an asthmatic in my family more than ANY prescription! All because a few people overdosed on it. The EXACT same mentality that attacks McDonalds – too much is bad. Grow up!
Marijuana – has now been legalized in multiple states, and yet the streets are not filling up with potheads. More accessible? Yes, but, we must take responsibility for ouselves and our children.
Testosterone – we hand out female hormones like candy (birth control pills) but a 38-yr-old man is demonized for taking supplements that are naturally in his body.
Lightbulbs – Do I REALLY need to go into that one? GE/Bailouts/GE created a bank hours before a bank bailout? Green=Greed!
Delta Smelt – MINNOWS that CA‘s own congresswomen are ’protecting’ in a MAN-MADE canal, while DESTROYING millions of acres of farms! GOOGLE: “CONGRESS CREATED DUSTBOWL”
The SOCIALIST NAN
Report Post »robstoddard
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 11:20amI wouldn‘t have dropped the ’grit. I would have simply kept it.
I don’t smoke, however, smoking isn’t as bad for you as they say it is.
Report Post »Anonymous T. Irrelevant
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 11:24amMaybe he should switch to Nicorette when out on a report, but then someone would accuse him of bad manners, chewing gum while talking.
Report Post »sissykatz
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 12:04pmOMG !!!!!! We have been reduced to APOLIGIZING for smoking a cigarette????? This is insanity !!!!! Nasty habit but not illegal !!!!! I am blown away that this country has come to this. What in the world has happened to us?????? WE ARE APOLIGIZING FOR OUR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS ?????? I am disgusted at this………….. We cannot let things like this continue !!!!!!!
Report Post »independentvoteril
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 12:16pmOK the man is in the middle of an OIL FIRE.. DANGER.. DANGER.. I think being there is FAR stupider than the cigarette.. maybe it would have made people feel better if he was falling down DRUNK to relax his nerves..SEEMS that is socially acceptable..
Report Post »independentvoteril
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 12:22pmSeems to me we have to STOP apologizing for everything.. seems white guilt when all the way to FREE SPEECH and legal ACTIONS..A few years back I quit apoligizing.. NOW I speak or do right out.. IF my neighbors play SPANISH music (ROCK AND ROLL NONE THE LESS) .. I bring out my boombox and play MEATLOAF or something just as loud.. IF they insist on speaking SPANISH (only a few do) I ask them WHEN are you going to learn ENGLISH.. If I go to a outdoor cafe and it says NO SMOKING I go right to the manager tell them I am leaving because they are controlling legal actions in the outdoors.. time to let them know we are NOT going to keep TOWING THE LINE.. as to WHAT the LEFT or the DO GOODERS feel is appropriate..
Report Post »IvanK
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 2:26pmMeanwhile in the real news,
Report Post »Our Imperial Dictatorial Messiah is flaunting the War powers act and has 4 wars going on….
orkydorky
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 3:43pmI don’t see anyone apologizing to him for all the unfair taxes he has to pay for that cigarette! I‘m a smoker and frankly I’m sick and tired of the PC’s telling me what to do with my life, and don’t peddle the old insurance argument, because I also pay more than you do for insurance! Get a life!
Report Post »Sound The Trumpet In Zion
Posted on June 29, 2011 at 5:09pm@I.Gaspar
Report Post »Actually I think they should do to him what that animal rights group is CLAIMING that the company in Iowa is doing the the pigs.
But actually I think a lot of people would have raised a stink if he had just been talking about a fire in another state.