Total temper tantrum. ESPN reporter Britt McHenry was suspended by the network on Thursday, April 16, after a video of her berating a parking attendant was leaked online.
The clip, posted to LiveLeak on Thursday, shows a disgruntled McHenry waiting to retrieve her car from an Arlington, Va., compound after it was towed. The scene takes an ugly turn when the reporter calls out the staffer's looks, education, and socioeconomic status.
“I'm in the news, sweetheart," the D.C. sports reporter says menacingly to the employee. "I will f–king sue this place."
The lot clerk, while directing McHenry's attention to a security camera, replies: "That's fine and I'll play your video, so be careful." Indeed, the video appears to have been edited to highlight what were presumably the worst portions from the offensive encounter. This included McHenry rattling off that the lot clerk had "no education, no skill set."
As the fiasco continues, McHenry brings up the parking attendant's education. "Do you feel good about your job?" she asks sarcastically, noting: "So I could be a college dropout and do the same thing? Why, cause I have a brain and you don't."
"Looks like it," the employee responds.
McHenry, who's all dolled up with her hair coiffed and styled in a messy top knot, concludes her verbal attack by calling out the employee's appearance. "Maybe, if I was missing some teeth, they would hire me, huh?" she says. "Oh, like yours? Cause they look so stunning," she continues of the attendant's teeth. "Cause I'm on television and you're in a f—ing trailer, honey."
As if that wasn't enough, she concludes her tear by advising the woman to "lose some weight, baby girl."
Hours after the video went live, McHenry issued a public apology via Twitter for her offensive remarks. "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."
An ESPN spokesperson addressed the incident in a statement released to Us Weekly on Thursday. "Britt McHenry has been suspended one week," the network told Us, "effective immediately."
