Post by Burke on Apr 18, 2015 14:27:19 GMT -5
ESPN reporter Britt McHenry has been suspended for one week after footage emerged of her abusive rant against a towing company clerk.
"I'm in the news, sweetheart. I will f****** sue this place," McHenry says in the security camera video.
She taunts the worker over her appearance, education and job in the 5 April confrontation.
"So I can be a college dropout and do the same thing?" the 28-year-old sports reporter asks sarcastically.
The clerk, single mother of three Gina Michelle (L) and Britt McHenry
She adds: "Maybe if I was missing some teeth they would hire me, huh?"
The employee of Advanced Towing Company in Arlington, Virginia, tells McHenry the interaction is being filmed, but she is undeterred.
"I'm in television and you're in a f****** trailer, honey," she says.
McHenry walks away with the parting shot: "Lose some weight, baby girl."
Following the sports network's disciplinary action against her, the Washington, DC-based reporter took to Twitter to say she was "so sorry".
"In an intense and stressful moment, I allowed my emotions to get the best of me and said some insulting and regrettable things," she said.
"As frustrated as I was, I should always choose to be respectful and take the high road."
An online change.org petition has been launched to have McHenry fired for her "shockingly derogatory, classist, and body-shaming comments". It had well over 3,000 signatures by Friday afternoon.
As #firebritt trended online, Advanced Towing said neither the company nor the clerk, Gina Michelle, wished to see McHenry lose her job.
"She is human and errors in judgement can be made in the heat of the moment," said a statement.
"Gina is a single mother of three children who works a difficult job to provide her family. Gina holds no ill will toward Ms McHenry."
Social media users have pilloried the reporter, though some sympathised with her frustration at having her vehicle towed.
A stream of abusive comments have been posted on McHenry's Facebook page.
Some were replies to this status update which the reporter wrote: "Nobody should be made to feel less than what they are or held to unrealistic standards and double standards.
"I'm a big proponent in women who can do it all."
In a blog about female empowerment on her Tumblr page, McHenry said it is important that women "can be comfortable in their own skin naturally".
