Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
The photo that WLOS reporter Mario Boone posted to his Twitter account, showing a woman mooning him.
Mario Boone, a WLOS TV reporter, took to Twitter today to insult a woman he was reporting on. Boone tweets that the woman was a drug suspect that he’s reporting on. He reports that she drops her pants as he films her; that she threatens him; and that her son charges at him with a stick. Boone then goes on to ridicule the woman.
The tweets:
I’ve seen a lot in my career but never has an obese woman mooned me until 2day.
Drug suspect moons me in front of HenCo sheriff’s deputies because I wouldnt stop filming her house. All caught on tape. U must see @WLOS_13
HenCo youth football coach subject of drug raid threatens me in front of her home.
Then drug suspect’s son charges at me with stick.
@Kelsay_Hart all on tape but my cam lens wasnt wide enough.
@jlwiseman13 Hey, this one jus fell in my lap.
Dammit! It’s gonna take all day to edit this story…have to do lots of blurring to cover this mooning I got.
The exclusive MOONING I got 2day compliments of a W I D E load.
Later Wednesday, Boone tweeted out an apology:
I appologize 4 earlier tweets that were offensive. My intent was not to personally attack anyone, but to express surprise at the situation.
Humble pie doesn’t always taste good, but u turn out better after eating some.
Good on Boone for the apology. His insults were a disgrace. Publicly ridiculing someone over their weight, regardless of how they treated you, is simply wrong. The fact that Boone is a reporter, and should treat all his subjects with fairness at the least and a solid dose of objectivity at the most, makes his comments all the worse.
Of course, this isn’t the first time that Boone has demonstrated a loose Twitter trigger finger.
Why are you guys criticizing? If this reporter is that thin-skinned I might start watching the news again.
He also apologized but i don’t see that blasted on this site. this blog has always trashed people at channel 13 deserved or not.
Tommy, thanks for the heads-up. I’ll post.
He called her ‘wide load’ – if that’s not ridiculing someone’s weight I don’t know what is.
i agree with tommy this is definitely becoming a mountain out of something so small nowhere in his tweet did i see him mention this womens name and with trhat being said where does the freedom of speech come into play he is a reporter and was reportiing the news why should one have to subject to attack because of doing their job no i dont think he disrespected her she brought that on herself when she exposed her derriere. Now why are you all even questioning if this man should have his job did he and does he do his job i believe so would we be having this same discussion if he was Geraldo Rivera,Howard Stern,Rush Limbaugh who all are very outspoken no i doubt it seriously
Talk about a mountain out of a mole hill. Where is the ridicule? Where is the bias? It sounds like the guy ridiculed her behavior and not her weight.
WLOS has a history of hiring misfits. Mario Boone may just be their biggest blunder yet. And for God’s sake, would somebody PLEASE feed Karen Wynne.
The exposure of one’s anal cleft is against the law in NC … he should have reported her to the authorities …
Yeah, she did moon him, but I would think that reporters would have some class and dignity and remember that they are in the public eye and to rise above stupid fratboy behaviors.
I’ll admit she was shameful in how she acted and she decided to show her hind-end, both literally and figuratively, on camera but he made it about her weight instead of just reporting the case.
Should we expect to see him on Fox news sometime soon? I hope we won’t see anymore of him.
the disgraceful way this woman acted in front of her own child is pretty horrific as well. if Boone would have risen above it and kept his mouth shut, his story would have had more of an impact.
Boone and his juvenile antics are merely a symptom of a much larger problem in the media today. Do you honestly believe that journalistic integrity is an ideal that Boone and his ilk strive toward? For evidence, see the current case of serial killer Israel Keyes. News station WCAX in Burlington reported in the summer without sources that Keyes was the suspect in the deaths of a Vermont couple. Keyes had made it clear to investigators that if this information made it into the public, he would confess to no more crimes. Keyes is suspected in the deaths of at least 11 people. Keyes subsequently committed suicide in jail, taking a chance at closure for an unknown number of families along with him.
Boone gets his start at WLOS, and then uses the sensationalism to move into some sort of corporate conglomerate tabloid journalism. A recipe for success!