Britt McHenry

[Chris]

But her employee has no basis for commenting, acting, or disciplining. It's ridiculous.

Maybe, maybe not. I would imagine that she has an employment contract. Perhaps, if so, that contract has a clause on personal conduct.

 

[Boone]

You obviously may be right on that Chris - I'm not intending to comment on what they can do legally or contractually (let's face it, they can do whatever they want to to an employee initially). I am just saying that her showing her ass to a towing company employee on her own time is not something her employer should be involved in 'policing'. I think you can feel a little bit of the mob mentality even here with the vibe being 'I hope they crush her'. She's getting crushed at an epic level by public opinion alone. The rest is overkill. I just can't stand the call for people to be 'fired' for a momentary lapse of judgment, whether it's something like this, a political figure making an embarassing statement, etc... People want to believe that a snippet of 60 seconds defines someone's entire character. I doubt that's the case.

We probably should've limited this topic here anyway. It's really what would formerly have gone in the PA Forum.

 

[Chris]

I will disagree to a point. When nearly every news article is headlined 'ESPN Reporter Britt McHenry...', I think they do have the right to police her actions. I have personally disciplined employees that have posted stupid comments/photos on their personal Facebook pages because they list their place of employment as my business, simply because that behavior reflects poorly on said business.

 

[Boone]

I agree there's a line at which point employer's have rights. But I would argue that the trend is for employers, regulators, government to believe they have an almost limitless right to look at and direct every aspect of our lives. I really have a problem with it. I also have wondered at times where individual's rights come into play? What about McHenry's rights? Does she have any right to not have an embarassing video get posted and go viral on social media? I understand all the dynamics, it's 'part of the world we live in', 'she should've known better', 'if you don't want your worst moments splashed on social media for all the world to see, act right' - I get all that. I'm just questioning what gives the average citizen the right to post a video of me or you, whether positive or negative, for anyone/everyone to see without even a hint of permission? That's a question we all ignore because we like to see people fall, be embarassed, 'get what's coming to them', etc..

 

[Chris]

I don't know. I would guess that an individuals rights in those areas end when their actions occur in the public domain. Social media and the internet in general (broad brush strokes used here) is a cesspool anyway. One glance at the comment section of nearly any site will confirm this almost instantaneously.

 

[Gulf Coast Redskin]

What a crock of shit...I have no problem with them releasing the video, Ms. McHenry was way over the line. But own it - you DID release the video and you did it to embarass MS. MCHENRY YOUR NEIGHBOR.

I was thinking the same thing when I read this. If they were only releasing the video to illustrate how these types of employees are treated, then why haven't they released videos of normal everyday people doing this rather than someone who is "in the news".

 

[Gulf Coast Redskin]

Maybe, maybe not. I would imagine that she has an employment contract. Perhaps, if so, that contract has a clause on personal conduct.

See, that's what I think too. But who knows. I guess we'll find out soon.

A friend of mine got fired from her job at Rite Aid because she posted pictures on Facebook of her in a compromising position with an M&M standee. Now, she was on the clock & in the store, so that's not the same thing, I know. It would just seem to me that there would be a strict code of personal conduct for tv personalities.

 

[Gulf Coast Redskin]

I will disagree to a point. When nearly every news article is headlined 'ESPN Reporter Britt McHenry...', I think they do have the right to police her actions.

This is what I was talking about when I said it will depend on the court of public opinion. If people care enough about this, they'll force ESPN to take action. If not, then a week from now, with NHL & NBA playoffs in full swing, people may forget about this.

 

[Ax]

I'd hit it.


She deserves every bit of criticism she gets. She's a self absorbed little **** who thinks she's better than everybody else.

 

[CounterTrey]

It's crap and as rude and unprofessional as Britt was, the towing company trumped it by releasing the video for public consumption. I'm with Boone here, she wasn't ON TV, even celebrities have a right to privacy, yes even when they're having a "moment" like almost every single person alive has from time to time. This for me is right up there with Mall security releasing public shaming videos of customers tripping or embarrassing themselves in public. It's a load of horsepuckey and I find the Towing Company's actions much more alarming and annoying.

 

[MikeSr619]

Is it funny that those talking about representing her company have no problems calling her a bitch?

 

[Ax]

Nobody on either side showed any class. They both showed they have none.

There should be little surprise that the tow company showed the video, to make her look bad.

The good part is, Britch showed everybody that she is a shallow, superficial, self absorbed snob, who carries an aura of being privileged.

That wasn't a moment, it was an exposure. She is what we saw, and heard. Hopefully she will change. But right now, that's who she is.

Armed with the knowledge, if the company chooses to fire her, I have no problem with it. It's their right.
Just as, if they keep her, knowing what kind of person she is right now, is their right, as well. And I have no problem with that either.

 

[Boone]

To be fair Ax, you don't know the lady. She's made some seriously dubious errors in reporting our team, and she made herself look absolutely awful in that video, but that doesn't equate to you knowing her. 'She is what we saw...' - you don't know that.

 

[Miles Monroe]

It is common in the service business, but shouldn't you expect more from a person in her particular position ?

Actually, no I don't. It's more often the people with a big paycheck / position that are the ass hats..... Sooner or later, they all have an enlightening experience. I've found over the years, they may have the money / title, but I have the upper hand in the situation. Many years back, I had to go out on a call.... 1:45 am, mid Feb, with the temps just around zero. It was to unlock a car at a bar. I roll in, and here's a brand new Benz... 65K+, with this guy standing by it. As I get out of my truck, he instantly starts yellin about how long it took for me to get there. He continued his rant as I walked up with the same type of stuff Britt was sliingin, to the point some of the other folks leaving the bar had stopped to see what was going on. When he informed me that if I so much as left a smudge on his car he would own me for life, I turned around and got back in my nice warm truck. I called my dispatcher, told her that the guy was drunk and belligerent, and I was refusing do the call... dispatch the next nearest AAA tower. Then I contacted the PD and told them there was a belligerent drunk in need of assistance at that bar, andnanother truck was in rout.

The whole time, the guy was loudly grumbling. I rolled down my window, and just said, "I may be an uneducated tow truck driver, but I'm not the dumb son of a bitch who locked my keys in my car on the coldest night of the year... have a nice night," and rolled the window up. The look on his face, and hearing the few people around laughing their asses off as I pulled away was priceless. I know the guy who got the call after me, and the cops were there when he showed. They had him tow the car home with the guy riding along. Told me the guy was fairly subdued the whole way home......

 

[Ax]

To be fair Ax, you don't know the lady.

No I don't. But I know her kind. She's far too comfortable in her indignant snobbery for it to be out of the ordinary.

She's made some seriously dubious errors in reporting our team, and she made herself look absolutely awful in that video, but that doesn't equate to you knowing her. 'She is what we saw...' - you don't know that.

Obviously, I don't know it. But if it were a bet in Vegas, I'd go large on it.

Had no idea she erred in reporting on our team. She forfeits any benefit of doubt on that alone.

And, as I said first, I'd hit it!

 

[Om]

Separate and apart from the specifics on this one ... we do have a long and celebrated history of people being canned for things they've said on their own time that happen to get caught on tape/film. The first one that jumps to mind in this sports network context is Jimmy the Greek. Had the camera not been there that day, all we would have ever known was that he was drunk and said something "controversial" ... and his career would have almost certainly moved merrily on.



That was 27 years ago, long before every single citizen carried state of the art video/audio recording equipment in their pockets. The clear and easy moral of this story? Ya better proceed through life fully cognizant that anything you do and say in public can, and, if you start wandering off the rails, probably will, end up on youtube.

Which to me paints Ms. McHenry as not only a first-class douchebag, but not particularly bright.

 

[MikeSr619]

Chris Berman has done it
Stephen a smith has done it
Bill simmons has done it
Olbermann has done it

All of those people work for bspn and all of them have been suspended but given another chance. If they outright fired Britt for doing the same how long would it be before Gloria Alred came along and made it a sexist lawsuit?

 

[Om]

I have no idea if she'll be fired. But I suppose if she is it won't be "just" for this one bout of verbal diarrhea. It would probably mean there are other issues involved. Hard to imagine she'd get fired over this alone. ESPN is many things, but it's generally smart enough to stay out of the PC crosshairs.

 

[servumtuum]

If anything her most grievous error was in a lack of situational awareness. The Web has made it virtually impossible for anyone with any sort of "public" presence to be human enough to act in a "Hey, now, that isn't proper" manner-as we all do at times-without it going viral within a matter of hours.


It would not surprise me at all if, say twenty-five years ago stuff like this happened-people are people after all-and was quickly, and relatively easily, swept under the rug.

 

[Henry]

Eh. I'd like to see some more context first. All we've heard is one side of a heated argument. It's my guess that blondie was just giving back what she was taking. Otherwise, why would the towing company edit out everything the other woman said? Apologies to Pete, but my experience with towing companies have not always been pleasant, and I'm a great guy.

What Brit said was pretty darn rude, obnoxious and condescending. Maybe she's like that all the time. I don't know.

But we aren't gonna know from 30 seconds of heavily edited footage.