After being fired for swearing on his first day as a news anchor, A.J. Clemente comes by INSIDE EDITION and tries out our anchor desk.
"The media attention has been crazy!"
That's an understatement, and nobody knows it better than A.J. Clemente, whose first two words as an anchorman on live TV made him famous for all the wrong reasons.
INSIDE EDITION's Les Trent asked Clemente, "So what did you say?"
Clemente said, "Freakin' shoes."
Well, that's close to the naughty words Clemente said when he got flustered during his very first moments on the weekend anchor desk for the NBC affiliate in Bismarck, North Dakota.
Clemente had no idea he was on the air at the time. The 24-year-old fought back tears while telling us how much it hurt to get fired after his first day on the air as an anchor.
"I called my mom in tears, and my dad. It was a heartbreaking," he said.
Clemente's attempt to introduce himself to his viewers on that disastrous broadcast wasn't much to brag about, either.
Trent said, "No offense, that was pretty awful."
We took Clemente to the INSIDE EDITION studio to see what he can really do with a little bit of coaching. His dad watched from the wings.
He flubbed his first try. But then, he nailed it.
Clemente confidently said, "Hi, i'm A.J. Clemente here on the INSIDE EDITION set in New York City! After making my headline debut in North Dakota, I have another shot in proving my abilities right here, right now. Yep, I can laugh at myself, but here's hoping all this attention lands me a chance at the anchor desk. Stay tuned."
