Briefly forgetting that he was at his job as a news anchor and not at home in his recliner, News 12 the Bronx's Matt Pieper managed to turn a story about crossing guards into a diatribe against the poor.
On Wednesday, Pieper apparently thought they were at commercial and didn't realize his mic was on when he started railing against the need for crossing guards. "Parents should do their f—ing job and walk their little kids to school on their own, and not rely on everyone else," he said. "Kind of like people rely on government assistance for their entire lives."
The on-scene reporter, Amy Yensi, inexplicably replied, "I think I qualify for government assistance." After Pieper told her to "just check that box, girl," she responded, "#EBT!" The complaints quickly started rolling in to the channel's Facebook page, and soon there was a post about a "technical error" during the show. "A personal conversation between an anchor and a reporter was unintentionally placed on air," it read. "News 12 the Bronx deeply regrets that this incident took place. The remarks of these individuals in no way reflect the views of News 12 management or other News 12 personnel."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
It would probably serve Pieper well to consider that the borough he covers had an average 12.7 percent unemployment rate in 2012, and the percentage of Bronx residents living in poverty rose to 30.4 percent — the highest rate of any county in New York State and the highest of any urban county in the United States. --Catherine Garcia
-
5 museum-grade cartoons about Trump's Smithsonian purgeCartoons Artists take on institutional rebranding, exhibit interpretation, and more
-
Settling the West Bank: a death knell for a Palestine state?In the Spotlight The reality on the ground is that the annexation of the West Bank is all but a done deal
-
Crossword: August 23, 2025The Week's daily crossword puzzle
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstancesSpeed Read
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2Speed Read
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governorSpeed Read
-
Los Angeles city workers stage 1-day walkout over labor conditionsSpeed Read
-
Mega Millions jackpot climbs to an estimated $1.55 billionSpeed Read
-
Bangladesh dealing with worst dengue fever outbreak on recordSpeed Read
-
Glacial outburst flooding in Juneau destroys homesSpeed Read
-
Scotland seeking 'monster hunters' to search for fabled Loch Ness creatureSpeed Read
