ESPN suspends Britt McHenry after video shows her belittling stranger
ESPN suspended reporter Britt McHenry on Thursday after a video surfaced of her yelling and belittling a towing company employee.
“Britt McHenry has been suspended for one week effective immediately,” Josh Krulewitz, an ESPN spokesman, said in a statement.
In the footage that was posted online, an irate McHenry chastises a female off-camera employee of Advanced Towing in Arlington, Va., after her car was towed.
“That’s why I have a degree and you don’t,” McHenry told the employee. “I wouldn’t work in a scumbag place like this.”
McHenry threatened to sue the business and said she was a news reporter before she began to make fun of the employee’s appearance.
“Lose some weight, baby girl,” she said at the end of the footage. McHenry also commented on the employee’s teeth.
McHenry acknowledged she was the person in the video dropping F-bombs in the personal attack, and she apologized.
“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 in a statement posted to social media. “As frustrated as I was, I should always choose to be respectful and take the high road. I am so sorry for my actions and will learn from this mistake.”
McHenry graduated from Stetson University and holds a master’s degree from Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism.
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