KUSA weekend morning anchor Ryan Haarer apologized Sunday morning after using the phrase “monkey see, monkey do” in reference to the Adrian Peterson child abuse allegations.
After Taylor Temby, a reporter for the Denver NBC affiliate, finished up a report about the Peterson case, she said an expert told her Peterson’s children would likely continue the cycle of discipline, since people often discipline their kids the same way they were disciplined. That’s when Haarer said, “You know Taylor, we hear about it. You know, Adrian Petersen’s dad, it happened to him and in turn he’s doing it to his kids, so it’s kind of a ‘monkey see, monkey do’ situation there.”
About 20 minutes later, Haarer told viewers, “I need to make an apology on air. Earlier in this newscast I made reference to Adrian Peterson in which some folks saw as a racial connotation. In no way, did I intend for it to happen that way. I realize that my words were wrong and I apologize.”
TVSpy asked KUSA for further comment. We will update when we hear back.