WOAI anchor Randy Beamer says he’s sorry for laughing while reading a story about the first man to receive a new penis in the U.S.
During the San Antonio NBC affiliate’s 5 p.m. newscast, Beamer laughed after saying the word penis during the story about Thomas Manning, who had a penis transplant after a workplace accident and cancer. Beamer then got case of the giggles which forced his co-anchor Delaine Mathieu to take over.
At 10 p.m., Beamer spent more than two minutes on an apology saying he deserved to be called out for being insensitive. “The story had a word in it that a 10-year-old would laugh at,” Beamer said in part. “Laughing about this in any way just perpetuates a stigma that these patients should not have to deal with.”
“Next time you think of laughing at a word or maybe at someone, laugh at me in this teaching moment of why you shouldn’t be stupid and insensitive,” said Beamer. “And remember people like Thomas Manning, who is really brave and can teach us all what real manhood is and that laughter can sometimes be very hurtful.”
[My San Antonio]