If Its True Is It Still Racist?
By: Tommy “Tj” Sotomayor

THIS is the shocking moment a white TV host says her black co-anchor looks like a gorilla – before making a tearful apology.

Alex Housden made the racially-charged comparison with fellow host Jason Hackett while reporting on a young primate at Oklahoma zoo.

After the segment on the local KOCO-TV morning news show on Thursday, Housden said to Hackett that the animal “kind of looks like you”.

Her stunned co-star awkwardly replied: “He kind of does, actually yeah.”

The clip quickly went viral – with Housden being roundly slammed on social media for her perceived racist jibe.

It led her to respond to the public outrage with an emotional apology on the show the following morning.

‘INAPPROPRIATE’

Describing her colleague as “one of my best friends”, a tearful Housden said: “I’m here this morning because I want to apologise, not only to my co-worker Jason, but to our entire community.”

She added: “I said something yesterday that was inconsiderate, it was inappropriate and I hurt people.

“I want you to know I understand how much I hurt you all out there and how much I hurt you.

“I would never do anything on purpose to hurt you.”

APOLOGY ACCEPTED

Hackett accepted his co-host’s apology – but said the episode highlighted the importance of language and cultural awareness.

He responded: “What she said yesterday was wrong.

“It cut deep for me and a lot of you in the community.

“The lesson here is that words matter.

“We are becoming a more diverse country and there is no excuse.

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“We have to understand the stereotypes, 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.”