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Editorial: Britt McHenry Should Be Fired

By Dan Viens

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The Twitter-sphere is buzzing over the release of a video showing ESPN Reporter Britt McHenry berating a towing company employee for apparently just doing her job (more on that later).  The attack was completely caught on camera, audio and all, and got extremely personal.  I won’t post the video here because I don’t want to bring your Samsung Galaxy’s to a crawl, but just Google or search Twitter for her name and you can pick and choose where you want to see and hear the sometimes vulgar exchange.

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This issue raises a couple of key questions that I thought may be of interest to our readers:

  1. Who the hell is Britt McHenry?
  2. Should she be allowed to continue working for ESPN?

The answer to Question 1 will, as of today, be “That crazy b**ch who went off on that tow employee, and I guess she worked for ESPN or something.”  Because she was a pretty obscure name, until now.

But Question 2 is something near and dear to my heart, so I wanted to tackle it as concisely as I could.

I was once “on TV” just like McHenry.  I spent nearly 6 years as a Sports Anchor in small markets like Pasco, WA and Bismarck, ND.  I too have a degree from a prestigious broadcasting school.  But here’s the difference between her and I:  I never lost sight of how difficult it was to get a job in that field, or how many people worked just as hard as I did and never got the chance.

When I was hired at KFYR-TV (NBC) in Bismarck, ND I got the job over 400 other applicants.  Four HUNDRED other people wanted to work in Bismarck Freaking North Dakota, market #150, logging long hours and making less money than the bartender who poured your beer at the end of a long day.  I can’t even imagine how many applicants ESPN gets for a job like the one McHenry has.

Hopefully she won’t have it for much longer.

Too often these days people who treat others with disrespect, disdain, or downright rudeness get ahead, and achieve things that others can’t, even though they have the same qualifications, if not more. My post-TV career is in restaurant and bar management, and I’ve been doing that for 15 years now.  More times than I care to remember I’ve worked with, or for, people who are intolerable human beings.  Unfortunately, many of those people get ahead in their careers, and in some cases it might very well be due to that selfish, take-no-prisoners mindset they possess.  But that doesn’t make it okay.

And we’re not talking about running a business here.  We’re talking about sports.  Not even that….. sports TALK.  It’s supposed to be fun.  It’s supposed to be entertaining.  And don’t forget for a minute that the company that owns ESPN is DISNEY!  Where is the line drawn between sheer rudeness and decency?

When ESPN suspends someone like Bill Simmons or Stephen A. Smith for saying something stupid, it’s not a direct parallel.  Their comments were made within the context of their jobs, which is to say stuff!  McHenry’s rant, caught in all it’s glory in picture and sound (and after she was made aware she was on video) should serve as a lesson in how not to treat people, and how not to take your job for granted.

As we speak, this is apparently being addressed within the walls of the Mother Ship in Bristol, CT:

Most of the reaction on Twitter is overwhelmingly against McHenry, with a few people holding out for context after we hear the other side.  After all, McHenry tweeted at the time of the tow that she was simply parked in the lot of a restaurant she dined at, and called the company “corrupt” for towing her.

But in the last hour we’ve heard from the employee who was the subject of McHenry’s insults. She claims that McHenry left her car at the restaurant at least two hours after they closed, to go to another bar.  This would be a clear violation of the lot’s rules, and subject her or anyone else who parked there to being towed.

But guess what?  It doesn’t matter.  McHenry’s childish and lewd insults to this woman, who sounded like she was being calm and professional in the exchange (although to be fair, the video is edited), speak directly to a sense of entitlement that can’t simply be brushed under the rug by ESPN.  If this was a simple argument between two women away from work I wouldn’t have an issue with it.  For the most part, what we do and how we treat people during our personal time shouldn’t impact our job status.  But the second McHenry decided to invoke the “I’m on the news” and “I’m on television” card, she brought her status on the network into play.  She was essentially using her position at ESPN as the basis of her rant. That just can not be acceptable to the network as an employer.

There’s a chance she’ll simply be suspended, craft some tearful that’s-not-how-my-parents-raised-me apology and go back to being a nondescript sideline reporter, albeit a more notorious one.

But here’s hoping she gets a humbling pink slip.  Because by playing the ESPN card the way she did, she not only insulted the woman behind the counter, but every hard-working, dedicated sports reporter out there who dreams about being in her position.

And it’s a safe bet that most of those people would appreciate that opportunity a great deal more than Britt McHenry’s does……..or did.

UPDATE:  McHenry just tweeted the following “apology:”

This doesn’t change a thing in my opinion.  This is just someone making a superficial gesture because they’re afraid they’ll lose their job.  She showed her true colors.  I would hope that ESPN would make a more substantial statement about who they allow to work for them. 

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