http://www.tmz.com/videos/0_np4du66k
It’s about time that I voice my unvalued opinion on ESPN reporter Britt McHenry’s temper tantrum that has spread virally across the Internet. If you haven’t heard, McHenry was towed by a notoriously despised towing company Advance Towing in Arlington, Virginia, on April 6. What followed was an outburst that was recorded on camera, which showed McHenry bashing the attendant with insults like:
“Lose some weight, baby girl.”
“Maybe if I was missing some teeth they would hire me, huh?”
“I’m on television and you’re in a f*****g trailer, honey.”
Almost ten days later, she was suspended by ESPN for a week. Britt has already voiced her apology and realizes that she has made a huge mistake, yet I feel moral justice was not served.
I hate to see such a praised organization like ESPN belittled by one employee’s mistake. The pioneers of ESPN sought and aspired to illustrate their organization to be bent on passion from its employees, for sports rather than fame. Although I don’t know McHenry personally, her outburst spotlights the indecency that exists in persona of television personalities ultimately leading the mantra and personality of ESPN astray.
Sure, it bothers me that ESPN did not take further actions, firing her immediately after the video went viral. Yet a part of me wants to believe ESPN has different motives behind their discipline that the public may not know about. For someone like me who dreams about working with the faces of ESPN, I’m trying my not to make the generalization that most television personalities within the network share the same kind of warped self-glorification she displayed for just being on television.
I just hope McHenry learns from her mistake and realizes being television does not make her a better person than someone who was not fortunate enough to get the opportunity she was given. People like me fall asleep dreaming about the job she has… But again who am I, an average college student, to have a valid and worthwhile opinion anyways?
Alan Jeffery Branch 