You can’t make it up. As reported by the New Jersey Globe on Tuesday, a multimedia reporter for the Asbury Park Press in New Jersey wrote a photo caption that included the phrase “f**king hot nurse,” which was not redacted prior to being published in the paper’s online edition over the weekend. Oh, and just for extra grins, he tossed in a racial slur.

Yes, the guy was fired. “The reporter in question is no longer with the company,” executive editor Paul D’Ambrosio told the New Jersey Globe, Tuesday morning.

take me off this planet

“The Asbury Park Press used a caption laced with profanity, misogynism and a derogatory ethnic term as part of a gallery of photos showing people of color receiving Covid vaccinations.” https://t.co/u6Wo97hLkq

— Canice Leung (@canice) March 22, 2021

And the strong language version.

The Asbury Park Press published a caption about a fucking hot nurse, a total JAP and in their apology included Asian Americans. I’m dying 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/ufUFxkTx2m

— Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) March 23, 2021

D’Ambrosio on Monday published an apology to readers.

“Late on March 20, a photo ran on APP.com with an unapproved and offensive caption. The photo was removed on March 21 as soon as it was brought to our attention. As executive editor of the Asbury Park Press, I apologize to women, the Lakewood Jewish community (where the photo was taken), all members of the Jewish faith, the Asian American community, and all of our readers.”

So what happened?

D’Ambrosio said the reporter uploaded images directly into their content management system and that another set of eyes is supposed to read the story and captions before publishing. Instead, Martinez Contreras self-published his photos and captions.

Which raises the musical question, why did the clown upload the caption in the first place? As any content writer knows, a “second set of eyes” is invaluable — when it comes to typos. Hence, copy-editors. But this? Dude, c’mon.

“I thought someone had hacked our content management system,” D’Ambrosio said. “In reality, it was a reporter who admitted that he did a ‘stupid, stupid thing.’” Ya think?

Going forward, no photo and caption will be published without another staffer looking it over, regardless of the time of day,” assured D’Ambrosio.

In a separate story on Monday, the New Jersey Globe said the photo was of an Orthodox Jewish woman administering the vaccine. The “J**” slur is an acronym that plays into stereotypes of Jewish females.

A photo caption in Asbury Park Press for a worker administering a COVID vaccine read:

“f—ing hot nurse, a total JAP, loads a syringe…”

Urban Dictionary defines JAP as a term for “Jewish American Princess” or a “person of Japanese descent.”https://t.co/XJLMGnJgrG

— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) March 22, 2021

In a written apology to D’Ambrosio, Martinez Contreras said he prided himself as being an advocate and supporter of women’s rights and cultural sensitivity “but this caption shows that I have plenty of work to do to address my own issues to make sure that my words and actions always treat others with respect.”

I wonder on which page of “Apologies for Journalists” that stock apology appears?

Contreras is a journalist with 16 years of experience, according to the Globe. And what did our intrepid reporter really have to say about his “stupid, stupid thing”? No idea. The guy is probably hiding in Joe Biden’s basement.