A newscaster has issued a tearful apology to her African American co-worker after comparing him to a gorilla on live TV.
The incident occurred on August 22 when Alex Housden was sharing a report on a local zoo and their gorillas during a live morning program by KOCO-TV.
In one particular segment, a baby gorilla appeared on the screen and, without a second doubt, Alex told her black co-worker, Jason Hackett, that the animal “kind of looks like you.”
Jason awkwardly responded by saying: “He kind of does, actually, yeah.”
Knowing that black people had often been compared to primates in the past, this was obviously a major mistake that Alex wasn’t about to escape from.
On the morning following the inappropriate comment, Alex has appeared tearful on live TV before apologizing to Jason and everyone else she offended with her statement.
“I’m here this morning because I want to apologize, not only to my co-anchor Jason but to our entire community,” she said.
“I said something yesterday that was inconsiderate, that was inappropriate, and I hurt people. And I want you to understand how much I love you out there and how much I love you [gesturing to Hackett].”
The TV anchor went on to claim that Jason is one of her best friends and that she “would never do anything on purpose to hurt you.”
After her heartfelt speech, Jason accepted Alex’s apology and noted that she is also like a best friend to him.
However, he also pointed out he wanted this incident to serve as a teaching moment for everyone because words “cut deep.”
“Coming out of this, I want this to be a teachable moment. The lesson here is that words matter. We have to understand the stereotypes,” Jason said.
“We have to understand each other’s backgrounds and the words that hurt, the words that cut deep. We have to find a way to replace those words with love and words of affirmation, as well.”
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