Motel 6 responds to a guest greeted by racial slur on TV screen

SHARONVILLE, Ohio - Motel 6 issued a statement after a Dayton man says a racial slur showed up on the TV in his room in Sharonville.

Joseph Ross said a racial slur appeared on the television in his Motel 6 room on Hauck Road in Sharonville after he checked in Friday evening.

"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, 'aww that ain't there, so then I focused my eyes and I couldn't believe what was on there,'" Ross said.

After Ross saw the message, he called the Motel 6 corporate office, as well as the Dayton chapter of the NAACP.

"To my amazement I actually witnessed with my own eyes 'Hello (racial slur) exclamation point,'" said Derrick Forward, President of the Dayton chapter of the NAACP.

Ross was in the area to attend the Macy's Music Festival. Forward thinks the timing of the message is no coincidence.

"For a guest to come to your hotel, turn on the TV during a Macy's jazz festival, that's predominately African-American that attend this event, to say 'Hello (racial slur)' what kind of welcome is that?" Forward said.

Motel 6 issued the following statement on Saturday:

"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."