A local newsman’s out sick email turned into a national story after he accidentally sent it to nearly every employee at his company.
Nick Vasos, an anchor and traffic reporter at Fox affiliate WDAF in Kansas City, Missouri, decided he needed to take Friday off after having oral surgery the day before. But instead of alerting his bosses, he sent the email to Nexstar Media Group’s nearly 200 stations.
The mishap prompted a national wave of well wishes, including on-air tributes, sympathetic tweets and a trending hashtag, #PrayersforNick.
In the office, co-workers set up a candlelit shrine at Vasos’ desk, complete with flowers, portraits and Kansas City memorabilia.
WDAF producer Brian Dulle called it “one of the more interesting nights I’ve had in the news business,” adding that thankfully, Vasos “will pull through.”
Even the Kansas City Police Department tweeted Vasos its sympathies, offering the journalist a welfare check.
After many people had replied all, Nexstar told staff that it was shutting down the email thread, noting that “there could be thousands of emails sent by the time this is done.”
In a phone interview with his station on Friday, Vasos explained that on Thursday, he had oral surgery which had required him to fast and abstain from drinking water. When he took medication after the procedure, having had no fluids for hours, it made him feel poorly. He then texted his manager to inform her that he wasn’t feeling well, but didn’t hear back.
“So I went to the email, which was a mistake,” Vasos said, eliciting laughs from his colleagues. “I don’t think I realized that I was sending it to all of Nexstar, and then I hit send.”
“I won’t be emailing any time soon,” he added. “As a word of advice to everyone, don’t email the entire company when you get sick.”
CORRECTION: This story has been updated to correct the name of the Fox affiliate in Kansas City. It is WDAF, not KDFW.