ESPN Reporter Suspended For A Public Temper Tantrum

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By Amanda Andrade-Rhoades - Opposing Views


http://i.imgur.com/aqA2cnd.jpg

ESPN reporter Britt McHenry will be off the air for a week after a video (below) of her throwing a temper tantrum at a car-towing facility surfaced online.

McHenry’s car was towed on April 6 in Arlington, Virginia, and she berated an employee of Advanced Towing. The video first appeared on LiveLeak.

“Yep, that’s all you care about, is just taking people’s money,” McHenry said in the video. “With no education, no skill set, just wanted to clarify that. … Do you feel good about your job? So I could be a college dropout and do the same thing? Why, cause I have a brain and you don’t?”

McHenry’s attack was more personal at the end of the video, which was edited. “Maybe if I was missing some teeth they would hire me, huh?” McHenry said. “‘Cause they look so stunning … ‘Cause I’m on television and you’re in a f*****g trailer, honey.”

“Lose some weight, baby girl,” she added.

McHenry, who was suspended just hours after the video surfaced, apologized for her actions on Twitter. “In an intense and stressful moment, I allowed my emotions to get the best of me and said some insulting and regrettable things,” she wrote. “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.”

Warning: This video features NSFW language.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mv-O9ZhKX1M

[deebakes]

fire this over-entitled biyatch :shrug:

[perrhaps]

I'd like to suspend her from a rafter in my basement.

[FBD]

:lol:

[Hal-9000]

not so sure it was a moment of rage and she lost it...

appears to me that she made some calm observations and feels that way inside regardless of the situation

queen douche 24/7 if you ask me..she insults the attendant about her weight, her teeth, her job and her education without even blinking an eye

[RBP]

Eh, this shaming crap is out of hand. That towing company is known to abuse power and steal cars from legal spots. That sounds like a much better focus of our collective venom that a person getting pissed off.

I am really tired of this internet vigilantism under the guise of justice. It's a return to public shaming that was outlawed 100 years ago (sans Delaware) because it was too brutal of a mind fuck.

[redred]

be the better person if you're in the wrong pay your bills

[RBP]

be the better person if you're in the wrong pay your bills

But that's the point. There is no context provided and nobody cares what the context is.

[redred]

half the story as per media , but even still no need to speak like that to people

[RBP]

half the story as per media , but even still no need to speak like that to people

Okay, but lose her job? Be vilified and threatened? At what point do we just say "what a jerk" and let it go because it's none of our business?

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Eh, this shaming crap is out of hand. That towing company is known to abuse power and steal cars from legal spots. That sounds like a much better focus of our collective venom that a person getting pissed off.

I am really tired of this internet vigilantism under the guise of justice. It's a return to public shaming that was outlawed 100 years ago (sans Delaware) because it was too brutal of a mind fuck.

:+1:

:agreed:

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By Kyle Smith - New York Post


http://i.imgur.com/wy9K4t7l.jpg

So we’ve all gotten a warm feeling of self-righteousness out of mocking ESPN reporter Britt McHenry, who was suspended for a week for saying rude things to a towing-yard employee.

It sure is fun to see pretty, successful blondes taken down a notch. And to do so while expressing solidarity with the beleaguered working class? Perfect.

Except ESPN is supposed to be a journalistic outfit. Maybe it should get both sides of the story before jumping to conclusions. Because there’s another side to this story — and it’s a lot more interesting than “pretty woman yells at maybe-not-so-pretty woman.”

McHenry, a DC-based reporter, was apparently towed by a company called Advanced Towing, a private contractor hired by various entities around the Arlington, Va., area to make sure people don’t illegally park.

Towing cars that are where they aren’t supposed to be is a necessary thing, an act of urban hygiene.

Still, let’s look at the Better Business Bureau rating for this outfit: It’s an F. (http://www.bbb.org/washington-dc-eastern-pa/business-reviews/towing-automotive/advanced-towing-company-llc-in-arlington-va-8501/) Out of 40 complaints lodged against the company in the last three years, Advanced Towing has simply ignored 37.

Over to the Yelp reviews (http://www.yelp.com/biz/advanced-towing-arlington). Interesting.

Yelper Mary El P. said in January she paid with a credit card, was told it didn’t work, then presented another credit card. When the statement came, she claims she was billed twice. She says she called up an employee, who was rude and insulting and informed her that disputing a charge on a credit card was a felony.

Yelper Eric T. alleges that a tow trucker apparently spying on him zipped around the corner while he was letting his dog out to pee — and that when he protested, the Advanced Towing driver yelled out, “Don’t park here you f - - king f - - - - t,” using an anti-gay slur.

In early April, a man who ducked into an Arlington CVS for medicine for his sick child says he came back to find his car being jacked up by an Advanced Towing truck — with his two kids inside.

But here’s what’s worse than any of that.

http://i.imgur.com/PYFXB9Tl.jpg

Several reviewers have complained that Advanced Towing brings in legally parked cars — and then, when you complain, simply insults you and holds the car hostage.

Said Yelper KJ B., “Towing serves a purpose, but this company just steals cars! The first time I was towed was from my very own parking spot at my apartment complex. They claimed they didn’t see my parking sticker (despite its obvious placement on the back where it is on EVERY CAR.)”

We don’t even know what was said to McHenry, since the Advanced Towing employee’s remarks have been edited out of the video that went viral.

And how do you feel about private companies with which you did not choose to do business making videos of you, then leaking them to the media for the purpose of humiliating you?

McHenry’s private conversation wasn’t actually any of ESPN’s business and should not even have been captured or distributed without her consent — but ESPN was terrified of the online mob and panicked.

ESPN should do the right thing and reinstate McHenry until it learns the whole story — or simply concede that sometimes people lose their tempers. The way McHenry talks on her worst, most frustrating day is probably how Keith Olbermann talked to his mom.

And to the journalists working in Arlington, Va. — a much more interesting and important story than “Citizen yells at another citizen” just fell into your laps. You’re welcome.

[RBP]

Indeed.