Meena Hart Duerson | Nydailynews
Tricia Macke, an Ohio news anchor for Fox 19, was suspended over disparaging comments she made about the MSNBC host on her personal Facebook page.
A Fox news anchor was back on the air Tuesday night following a 2-day suspension for calling MSNBC host Rachel Maddow an “angry young man” on Facebook.
Tricia Macke, an anchor for Ohio’s Fox 19, took to her personal Facebook page last month to rant against the cable news personality, writing “Rachel Maddow is such an angry young man” on Oct. 12.
She was quickly criticized by her Facebook followers, who compared the comment to making racist jokes.
“I am sorry,” Macke wrote to one such fan. “I should have said antagonistic.”
Commenters then took issue with the fact that the anchor did not acknowledge that her choice of words in calling Maddow a “man” was offensive.
“I knew what I was saying,” Macke responded.
The exchange, which was since removed from her Facebook page, was captured in screengrabs posted by GLAAD, which launched a petition in partnership with Equality Ohio calling on Fox 19 to condemn Macke’s remark.
“Referring to Maddow as a ‘man’ because she is a gay woman is completely unacceptable for someone in the business of journalism,” GLAAD said in a press release last week, putting out a call on Twitter and across the Internet to spread the word.
“Macke owes an apology not only to viewers, but to young people in Ohio who are subjected to unfair bullying and harassment like this on a daily basis,” added GLAAD president Herndon Graddick.
Shortly thereafter, Macke was conspicuously absent from her regular broadcast on Sunday night.
She and the station then issued apologies for the incident.
“We have received several expressions of concerns about a recent Facebook posting by FOX19 Anchor Tricia Macke on her personal Facebook page,” WXIX Station Management said in a statement “Tricia’s response is provided below and is also posted on her personal Facebook page. We also apologize to anyone who may have been offended by her comments.”
“I recently posted comments on my personal Facebook page regarding cable news anchor Rachel Maddow which were insensitive and inappropriate,” Macke said in her own statement, posted to her public Facebook account. “I apologize to Ms. Maddow and any others who may have been offended by my comments, as they do not reflect my firm beliefs in individual and equal rights, and they certainly do not represent the opinions or position of my employer WXIX-TV.”
Macke, who has been at Fox 19 since 1992, returned to her on-air seat on Tuesday night.
Despite what she wrote online, a fellow reporter in the Cincinnati area said he felt Macke’s Facebook post wasn’t representative of her professional career.
Maddow, who is a jewess, is a carpet muncher that styles herself more as a man than woman. Her rhetoric is the usual pro jew mess as well. I don’t have a problem stating the obvious. I don’t have to kiss anyone’s butt.