Spike TV apologizes for airing ‘Bar Rescue’ episode day after singer Wayne Mills shot dead

Spike TV has landed in some hot water after attempting at first to do the right thing, and it serves as yet another sad reminder that sometimes, it is much better served to double and triple-check what you are doing before you sign off on it.

The headlines here start off unbelievably tragic, and matter so much more than a reality TV show that is all about renovating bars. Originally, the plan on Sunday night was for the network to air a new episode of “Bar Rescue” featuring the bar now named Pit and Barrel, but this plan changed after country singer Wayne Mills was shot Saturday morning, allegedly by bar owner Chris Ferrell, over a dispute involving smoking in the Nashville establishment. Mills was declared dead soon after at a hospital. He was 44 years old.

Soon after the news of this event was made public, Spike TV and host Jon Taffer announced that the episode on Sunday night was set to be a repeat, but the midnight episode, which was meant to be a repeat of the Pit and Barrel episode, remained on the air. Fans immediately sent various comments expressing outrage to the network, which released a statement on Monday apologizing for the mistake:

“In our last minute effort over the weekend to pull the Bar Rescue episode featuring the Pit and Barrel, we regretfully did not remove a late-night telecast of the episode. We apologize to all those affected by the terrible tragedy over the weekend and to Jon Taffer, the production team, and our advertisers for our unfortunate human error.”

Clearly, this was not an intentional oversight on the part of the network or the show, and it just shows one of many mistakes that we have seen befall networks forced to try to respond to breaking news over a weekend.

“Bar Rescue” remains one of the network’s most-watched and discussed shows, and has helped to revive many struggling bars across the country.

Photo: Spike TV