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After saying he would for a couple of years, NBC 4 reporter Tom Sherwood will be getting a tattoo of a D.C. flag emblazoned on his body—along with NPR-WAMU host Kojo Nnamdi and Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh. The tattoos are the result of an agreement among the three on today’s episode of Nnamdi’s show stemming from a $3,000 donation to WAMU 88.5. The news was first announced in a tweet from Kojo producer Michael Martinez (who, in addition to Cheh’s office, did not immediately respond to a request for comment). It was then confirmed in a tweet from the show’s account:
It’s official: @wamu885 got a $3,000 donation from a DC resident to get Kojo, @tomsherwood and @marycheh tatted up. https://t.co/cIbnTktxX3
— The Kojo Nnamdi Show (@kojoshow) October 23, 2015
Sherwood, reached by phone, says he left the WAMU studio after recording but before the donation apparently came in. From the balcony of his apartment in Southwest, he tells City Desk that Nnamdi and Cheh (today’s guest) agreed on air to get the tattoos, provided that someone would donate $3,000 to the station (down from the $5,000 he had proposed previously). According to Sherwood, Nnamdi suggested the tattoos would be featured in some sort of “event,” but the details of when and where they’ll get them remain unclear.
“It won’t be very big,” Sherwood says. “But I have said in the past that my son Peyton [who owns Kangaroo Boxing Club in Columbia Heights] has a D.C. flag on one of his arms—I don’t remember which one. I’ve always said I’d get one like that.”
Sherwood quipped that he’ll have to “build up [his] muscles a bit” to prepare for the flag.
Update 3:40 p.m.: Martinez tells City Paper he still hasn’t “completely processed” the news, and that the tattoos were in fact his idea originally. “I mention in the [blog post] I [just] wrote that at some point in the past year, I started to lose faith in the whole thing as a gag,” he says. “Tom [Sherwood] persisted and kept bringing it up, so I became convinced it was something he really wanted to do.”
You can watch a clip of this “dreams-do-come-true” moment below. (Cheh’s office hasn’t confirmed if she’ll go through with the tattoo.)
Update 4:35 p.m.: Cheh’s spokesperson Kelly Whittier writes in an email to City Desk that the councilmember is “all in” for the ink.
Photo by Darrow Montgomery. Video via the Kojo Nnamdi Show
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