White News Anchor Apologizes To Black Co-Anchor After Comparing Him To A Gorilla

A white anchorwoman received some heated backlash after she compared her black co-anchorman to a baby gorilla on live television.

Jason Hackett and Alex Housden, co-anchors for the morning news show at KOCO 5 TV, showed a video of Fin, the zoo’s baby western lowland gorilla. Fin’s caretaker had taken over the Oklahoma City Zoo’s Instagram for the day, capturing footage of the ape recording selfie videos.

Cute and harmless, right?

Well, unfortunately the segment took a nosedive when Miss Housden decided to make a little joke.

The dialogue:

“As you can see, Fin was fascinated,” said Housden, who is white.

“Definitely ready for his close-up there,” added Hackett, who is black.

As the broadcast cut to the traffic report, Housden made a final comment.

“Kind of looks like you when you take a picture,” she said.

Hackett paused.

“Yeah it does, actually, yeah,” he said. “Very close to the camera.”

The insensitive “joke.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c–YG9QTtxI

Now, y’all know our community was not having it. An flood of outraged viewers called into the station and wrote on their Facebook pages to express their distaste for what went down on the morning show.

Of course, Alex Housden immediately went into apologetic mode on social media and gave an official apology on the show the very next day.

The apology:

The slur — comparing black people and those from Africa to monkeys, gorillas or apes is something folks should know you just don’t do — but as Jason Hacket says, people can use this as a teachable moment.

Not sure if there was a malicious intent behind the remark, but we’re sure she’s learned her lesson.