Remember that time a weather reporter quoted Taylor Swift in his report?
Or that time a British meteorologist did the same with Star Wars?
Those were pretty cool, right?
Unfortunately for WZTV Fox-17 sports anchor Dan Phillips, his bosses did not feel the same way after he paid tribute to Prince by quoting that late star"s lyrics in a recent report.
Phillips opened his broadcast late last month by telling his "dearly beloved" viewers to gather around.
He then said "let"s go crazy" over some hockey highlights, before going on to mix in Prince lyrics with his playoff rundown.
A short time later, Phillips was out of a job.
When contacted by The Tennessean, the reporter would not confirm that was why he was fired from the Sinclair Broadcast Group-owned station due to this tribute.
But he worked at the station for 10 years prior to being let go.
And then he wrote the following on Facebook:
"First of all, I want to thank everyone for the kind words, comments and positive feedback on this tribute I did to Prince last week. It really means a lot.
"Unfortunately, there were apparently some viewers, as well as management at the station, who did not feel the same way. They felt I was insensitive. And as a result, I was terminated today.
"I"m choosing to use this as a catalyst for some exciting things I"ve been working on for some time now. I"ll have many more details on this in coming days.
"For now, thanks again for all of your support. And if you need an old, washed-up sports guy for anything, please let me know!"
