Photo Credit: YouTube Screenshot
During a tearful segment, white anchor Alex Housden apologized to her black co-anchor Jason Hackett after comparing him to a gorilla on Oklahoma City’s KOCO-TV.
While reporting on a story about a gorilla at the Oklahoma City Zoo, Housden ends with the racist comment directed to Hackett, “Kind of looks like you.”
Hackett paused then responded, “He kind of does, l actually, yeah.”
After receiving backlash from viewers for Housden’s derogatory comment, the following day she issued an apology calling it inconsiderate and inappropriate.
“I hurt people. I want you to know I understand how much I hurt you out there and how much I hurt you,” she told her co-anchor tearfully.
Hackett accepted her apology and wanted this to be a teachable moment to his viewers.
“The lesson here is that words matter. We have to understand the stereotypes, we have to understand each other’s backgrounds and the words that hurt, the words that cut deep.”
Watch the clip below: