10 fired after Wii death jokes

January 17th, 2007, 18:13 Posted By: wraggster

via cvg

KDND 107.9, The US radio station whose 'Hold your wee for a Wii' contest led to the death of a mother of three, has fired 10 staff involved - including five on-air personalities - after reports suggest that they made jokes after listeners expressed concerns over water intoxication on air.

According to The Sacramento Bee, one listener had phoned it to point out the danger only to be told that the station was "aware" of it, while another host joked that contestants had signed a release, "so we're not responsible".

"We got a guy who's just about to die," a reporter with the contestents said. "Make sure he signs the release," the radio host replied.

Of course the banter eventually took a bitter irony as 28-year-old Jenifer Strange complained of a headache and was later found dead in her home in Sacramento California - the cause of death found to be water intoxication.

But despite the distasteful nature of the contest local sheriffs said that there are no grounds for a criminal investigation: "It's not as if she was somehow in their custody and they had a role to care for her. Rather, it was an invitation to a contest that was clearly ill- advised. She was exercising her free will," Sacramento County Sheriff John McGinness told the Bee. "If there's anything to suggest a criminal act by anyone involved in this, we'd pick it up and run with it."

the word idiots comes to mind, my heart goes out to the husband and children of the poor women involved

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