by Ben Olson
Britt McHenry is a 28 year-old
sports reporter for ESPN. She has been
working at ESPN since March 2014. On
April 16, 2015, McHenry was caught on video verbally abusing an employee at a
tow lot. During the video (Zucker, 2015), which can be
seen below, McHenry states that she is a television reporter, she makes a number
of abusive and downgrading remarks toward the tow low employee about her looks,
her education and her job, and she threatens to sue.
McHenry took to Twitter the next day to
apologize for her outburst. ESPN
suspended McHenry from the network for one week due to her outburst. A few days after the incident and ESPN’s
reaction to it, TMZ caught up with a number of ESPN employees about
McHenry. It was anonymous, the way these
employees felt about McHenry. Not one
person said that they were alright with McHenry only receiving a one week
suspension (TMZ Staff, 2015). One high
level producer told TMZ (2015) “She’s the worst. Hopefully she’ll be fired soon.” I believe that this speaks a lot about a
person.
Watching the video and reading
the remarks of her colleagues, I do not believe that this was a one-time occurrence
for McHenry. Not a single one of her
colleagues stood up for her and said that she is a good person who let the
moment get the best of her. McHenry
clearly felt that she was better than the tow lot employee who she verbally
abused. How should ESPN handle this
situation? Her outburst makes ESPN look
just as bad. She is a face for ESPN and
what it represents.
References
TMZ Staff. (2015, April 18). Divide at ESPN: Several employees want her fired. TMZ.com
Retrieved from http://www.tmz.com/2015/04/18/britt-mchenry-divide-at-espn-
several-employees-want-her-fired/#ixzz3Xm22E1jX.
Zucker, J. (2015, April 16). Britt McHenry Suspended by ESPN for Incident with
Towing Company Employee. BleacherReport.com. Retrieved from
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2433335-britt-mchenry-suspended-
by-espn-for-incident-with-towing-company-employee.
After watching the video of McHenry’s outburst, I was honestly shocked that ESPN only suspended her for a week. I was thinking that she would be fired after that video of her was released on social media. The fact that McHenry insulted the woman’s appearance and education has absolutely no correlation with her car being towed. McHenry also makes a good living as an EPSN reporter; does the cost of her car getting towed really displace her that much? After seeing that video, I would never watch any segment that she was featured in again. She deserves to be fired, seeing that she is not representing EPSN in a positive light. While she is obviously beautiful, looks can only take you so far. In this case, her despicable personality should get her fired and out of reporting for ESPN for good.
ReplyDeleteKali Morgenstern
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteBen,
ReplyDeleteOne of your final statements resonated with me after I read your post. You said, “She is a face for ESPN and what it represents.” This is spot on. McHenry’s behavior is inexcusable. Yes, everyone makes mistakes. But her comments seem to be in direct alignment with her character, as nobody from the network stood up for her, like you pointed out. As a former sports journalist/reporter, I know first hand how difficult it is to gain a strong following of fans. McHenry had ESPN on her side and still managed to likely flush her SportsCenter career down the drain, at least temporarily, until fans begin to trust her again (I know I won’t). There is a long list of ethical issues with her meltdown, but most important she forgot the golden rule. If she is going around treating people in such a manner, she does not deserve much respect back in my opinion. ESPN botched this one. They should have suspended her, without pay, for at least a month. She needs to feel the consequences of her actions. I personally believe she should be let go.
Alexx
Her behavior is so embarrassingly bad for not only ESPN, but everyone who works in her field in a way because she propped herself up as if she were royalty for being on television. I don't know what kind of day she was having, but there is nothing that excuses that kind of behavior and actions. I honestly think she should be terminated from her position. Most ESPN anchors are lovable types that everyone can feel a connection with. From the business side of things, I think she has scarred herself with that display of anger and has forever lost any connection with the viewer. If she feels she is so important, she should have realized the harsher punishment for her behavior because of her status.
ReplyDeleteWhen this occurred, I was disgusted. I started to read up on McHenry because I wanted to see what kind of person she is. To now know that he co-workers didn't even stand up for her is insane! I cannot believe that ESPN only gave her a one week suspension. You are exactly right, she is the face of ESPN and is representing herself, but others at the network. Since ESPN only suspended her for a week I feel as though they are sending the message that they do not care or hold people responsible for their actions. That tow lot employee could have been a fan of ESPN. That tow lot employee could be related to an athlete, to a high level ESPN executive, and now their impression of ESPN as a company is tarnished. Someone at ESPN was not thinking ethically when they decided to keep this girl employed. Is that the kind of individual you want representing your company? Is her conduct going to permeate the culture at ESPN now that they have shown this level of tolerance for insensitive words? Interesting story to think about.
ReplyDeleteMarissa Tashenberg
When this occurred, I was disgusted. I started to read up on McHenry because I wanted to see what kind of person she is. To now know that he co-workers didn't even stand up for her is insane! I cannot believe that ESPN only gave her a one week suspension. You are exactly right, she is the face of ESPN and is representing herself, but others at the network. Since ESPN only suspended her for a week I feel as though they are sending the message that they do not care or hold people responsible for their actions. That tow lot employee could have been a fan of ESPN. That tow lot employee could be related to an athlete, to a high level ESPN executive, and now their impression of ESPN as a company is tarnished. Someone at ESPN was not thinking ethically when they decided to keep this girl employed. Is that the kind of individual you want representing your company? Is her conduct going to permeate the culture at ESPN now that they have shown this level of tolerance for insensitive words? Interesting story to think about.
ReplyDeleteMarissa Tashenberg
After watching this video, I’m so shocked that a person would behave like that; especially McHenry is a reporter. Ben, I also agree with you that McHenry is the face of ESPN, every word from her mouth should be watched out. I could not imagine what the employee’s feeling at that moment. I do not think after the one-week suspension McHenry could gain her reputation back from audiences; and the suspension should be harsher in my perspective. In this accident, McHenry used her vulgar words not only discriminated the female employee on her appearance, but also discriminated the work property, which may offense more than one person. In addition, she showed off her reporter job and her education experience, and utilized this arrogance against other people; her behavior really makes me feel uncomfortable and disgusted. I hope she can learn some lessons from the suspension, even though the suspension is not enough for her in my perspective.
ReplyDeleteVeeco Zheng
Seeing her coworkers’ reactions plays a huge role in how the rest of society will view the situation. I think many issues like this are dealt with by making the excuse of letting the pressure “get to them” which eventually leads to a blow up of some sort. I heard on the radio that situations like this one happen to many people who work in the media or who are often in the spotlight. While I understand as humans, we occasionally need to blow off steam, I do not think it is okay or ethical to abuse another person in the process. I think ESPN should take a strong stance on this situation because if they don’t they are essentially allowing this type of behavior to happen. If her coworkers are not protecting her, then clearly this was not an unusual occurrence. ESPN shouldn’t be allowing their employees to act in such unethical manners.
ReplyDeleteAllie McDavitt
I think to have no support from her colleagues speaks volumes about who she is known to be. Her actions in this video are appalling, earlier I commented on Randy Gregory's situation being a marijuana user and I can honestly say if I was an employer I'll easily take someone who smokes marijuana into my company before I'd hire someone who treats people the way she did in this video. With that said, I believe that she is very blessed to have kept her job and only have received a 1 week suspension because if I were making the decision she'd be fired. That's not the kind of people I want to be affiliated with and especially not representing my organization. Im quite surprised that she didn't get fired, it makes me wonder who is allowing her to keep her job because they're obviously protecting her. I say so because it believe in most other organizations she would have been fired, at least I'd hope so.
ReplyDeleteJonathan Robinson
For ESPN not to reprimand McHenry more extensive than a week long suspension is absolute blasphemy. In no setting should anyone ever treat another human being in that manner. McHenry should have realized that she is in the public spotlight at all times. It amazes me sometimes that people that are on national TV do not realize that everyone is watching them. Never can people that appear on television act in a manner that does not represent them or their company. The part about this that is even more shocking is the fact that after the worker pointed out that she was on camera, she continued to act in a manner that was totally inappropriate. Though her acts weren't illegal, they were absolutely morally and ethically wrong. ESPN should be ashamed of themselves for not reprimanding McHenry more extensively.
ReplyDeleteDerek Shay