When Joseph Ross from Dayton checked into the Motel 6 in Sharonville, Ohio...he did what most people do. He turned on the television and kicked back on the bed to relax for a while.
But what popped up on the hotel TV screen did little to relax him. In fact, it outraged him.
Ross, who was in town to attend a local Jazz festival, says a blatant racial-slur popped right up on the welcome screen.
"I turned the TV on and when I laid back on the bed I just happened to see something on the screen and I was like, 'Ah, that ain't there, so then I focused my eyes and I couldn't believe what was on there,'" he told WCPO in Cincinnati.
Ross says the screen said "Welcome (N-word)". Only it didn't say "N-word"...it said the actual word.
Ross then complained to Motel 6's corporate office...and then reached out to the president of the Dayton chapter of the NAACP.
The Cincinnati office of the NAACP said that the Dayton chapter "independently called the location to ask if the Motel 6 had on their TV broadcast 'Hello (N-word).' The person who answered the phone confirmed the information was true but provided no explanation or clarity of why."
Motel 6 released a statement acknowledging and denouncing the incident:
"At Motel 6, we are proud of the great diversity of the guests that we serve, and we are completely appalled by the offensive slur that appeared on our guest's television screen Friday. We are investigating to determine how this mishap occurred, and after inspecting other rooms this appears to be an isolated incident." the statement read.
Police are also investigating the incident. “We are taking this very seriously and we are looking into it,” Sharonville Police Lt. James Nesbit told Cincinnati.com.
What do you think should happen next? Are you shocked that in 2012, in Ohio of all places, things like this still happen?
TV Station Profiles & Public Inspection Files forWNWO