Your News, Their Opinions
When it’s your job to look pretty and deliver the news to the millions of Americans watching your program, it’s easy to get caught on your words and create controversy. Some anchors, however, go further than a slip of the tongue when they let their personal biases toward the gay and transgender communities fly.
Now we really don’t mean to target any news source specifically, but it may not come as a surprise to you that many of the people who have been most outspoken in their fight against “the gay agenda” or who support anti-equality hate groups come from the same conservative network. Marriage equality and human rights for people of all sexual orientations is a universal issue that spans the worlds of sports, politics, education in every community in America and beyond, and it’s important to talk about these issues with an open mind to all perspectives.
Source: Twitter @Tricia Macke
Start the slideshow below to see which newscasters are only broadcasting their small-minded opinions!
1. Shannon Bream
Source: Facebook @Shannon Bream
There are too many examples of Bream’s homophobia to count, but here’s one that gives a good example of how she likes to rub her hate in everybody’s face. In 2011, a Macy’s employee was fired for violating the company’s policy of allowing transgender customers to use their changing room of choice. Bream then invited the former Macy’s employee onto her show to joke about the company’s policy and mock the appearance of the transgender person. That they let this woman have her own show is baffling to me!
2. Tricia Macke
Source: Twitter @Tricia Macke
Fox correspondent Tricia Macke had a nasty comment to make about MSNBC host Rachel Maddow following Maddow’s public coming out as lesbian. In a Facebook post on her public page, Tricia Macke said that “Rachel Maddow is such an angry young man.” She tried to play off the moment, saying that gender and sexual orientation were irrelevant in the sentiment of her comment, but she wasn’t about to get off the hook that quickly. Macke was later reprimanded by by Fox 19 and soon released this statement: “I recently posted comments on my personal Facebook page regarding cable news anchor Rachel Maddow which were insensitive and inappropriate. 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.”
3. Amy Kushnir
Source: Facebook @Amy Kushnir
Amy Kushnir of the Texas morning show The Broadcast had a lot to say when Michael Sam celebrated a win with a same-sex kiss on ESPN. She famously stormed off set when she got schooled in an argument about the “offensive” kiss on her own show. So, naturally, she was invited to voice her concerns on Fox News.
In her interview with Fox, Kushnir called Michael Sam’s kiss an “incident” and said that it was an over the top and inappropriate act for ESPN. She also claimed that ESPN only put the kiss on the air to put out a shocking video and gain views. She said that ESPN is supposed to be a “family network” for sports, and that her children shouldn’t be subjected to “gay things” when viewing sports programs.
4. Martha MacCallum
Credit: Paul Morigi/Getty Images
It’s no surprise that there are many factors behind anti-gay sentiments, like hate, ignorance, or a mix of both! Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum let her ignorance show when she was discussing the implications of the Supreme Court’s decision earlier this summer in favor of marriage equality.
Credit: Rob Kim/Getty Images
MacCallum doesn’t seem as angry about the marriage equality decision in this interview so much as confused about what exactly “equality” means. In the interview, she turns to Greta Van Susteren and asks, “We’re three people and we love each other and we want to be ‘marriage.’ What’s to prevent that under this?”
Credit: Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images
Van Susteren was so baffled by MacCallum’s stupidity that she actually just stared at her for a moment before moving on with the discussion, not even acknowledging her question with an answer. I mean, come on, the slope is NOT THAT SLIPPERY!
5. Will Davis
Source: Twitter@rightwatchltd
Will Davis is the publisher and editor for the Monroe Daily Reporter, the primary news source for Monroe County, Georgia. In a move of poor journalism practice and improper abuse of his position as editor of the local paper, Davis published an article based on an anonymous tip that outed the local superintendent of schools as gay.
Source: Sam Oslyn/Imgflip.com
Based only on an anonymous tip that Anthony Pack (pictured above), the superintendent of schools in Monroe County, had a Grindr profile, Davis wrote a very insensitive article bashing him. The article was filled with anti-gay slurs and was clearly a product of Davis’s own homophobic sentiments, and in no way a newsworthy, objective account.
Source: Twitter @willpdavis
Davis also has a prolific Twitter account that shows it’s really no surprise that he would go out of his way to tarnish the reputation of a local figure. His tweets include one particularly nasty remark comparing gay activists to the Nazi Gestapo. I’m sorry to see he thinks the Holocaust is a laughing matter. Honestly, someone needs to replace this guy.
6. Ann Coulter
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Though she’s technically not a newscaster, Coulter appears in interviews and on the news often enough that we thought she deserved a spot on this list. In reality, she’s a social and political commentator and columnist famed for her bafflingly conservative views and abrasive manner. She’s a self-described polemicist.
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Ann Coulter made jaws drop on both sides of the political spectrum in 2007 when she said in a statement, “I was going to have a few comments on the other Democratic presidential candidate, John Edwards, but it turns out that you have to go into rehab if you use the word ‘fagg*t,’ so I’m […] kind of at an impasse; can’t really talk about Edwards, so I think I’ll just conclude here and take your questions.” Classy!
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Coulter’s hateful remark actually received a round of applause. Her response when later faced with criticism for the comment? “C’mon, it was a joke. I would never insult gays by suggesting that they are like John Edwards. That would be mean.”
If this gives you any perspective on just how extremely conservative Coulter’s views are, a representative for John McCain called her remarks “wildly inappropriate.” Damn.
7. Damian Goddard vs. Anderson Cooper
Source: Twitter@therealsamoslyn
It’s no secret at this point that CNN reporter Anderson Cooper is openly gay, out, and proud. The newscaster is a household favorite for many Americans, and he was defending both gay and universal rights long before he came out publicly. When one Sportsbet reporter tried to throw some anti-gay shade at the handsome newscaster, Cooper gave him the ultimate slam down.
Credit: Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images
In April, 2014, Cooper tweeted his support of recently outed D1 basketball player Derrick Gordon: “Watching @flash2gordon speak about being out and proud, he is incredibly courageous and inspiring.”
Damien Goddard saw the tweet and decided he needed to respond to remind Cooper and Gordon that gay is NOT the way. Cooper’s response was priceless.
Source: Twitter @andersoncooper
Goddard was host of Connected on Sportsbet before he was let go after a string of offensive tweets in 2011. Goddard supported anti-gay comments against the NHL’s Sean Avery for his support of marriage equality. Goddard then appeared in an anti-marriage equality ad in Maine in 2012. This guy clearly loves to be in the spotlight for hating gays, so the opportunity to get a hoot from Cooper was too good to resist.
Freedom of speech is one thing, being a patronizing a$$ is another.
8. Dmitri Kisilev
Source: YouTube @OutTravelerRU
You might be surprised to see a Russian news anchor on this list, but when it comes to homophobia, it’d be a crime not to include someone from one of the most openly antigay nations in the world at the moment. Kisilev anchors Vesit, the leading Russian news show– and no surprise to us, he was appointed to the position by Putin himself.
Source: YouTube @Marlina Petrova
In 2013, Kisilev delivered a bone-chilling statement on homosexuals in a segment on his show: “I think that just imposing fines on gays for homosexual propaganda among teenagers is not enough. They should be banned from donating blood, sperm. And their hearts, in case of the automobile accident, should be buried in the ground or burned as unsuitable for the continuation of life.”
Yeah, he wants to burn gay people’s hearts.
Source: YouTube @ozzeuk
Probably the most frightening aspect of Kisilev’s views is that he’s the most-watched news program in Russia, and he preaches a belief that homosexuals are actively (and evilly) trying to push an agenda on the rest of the country: “We have this problem with homosexuals in that they behave provocatively, they behave like victims, and yes, that is certainly encouraging, provoking a situation that they are victims. No one’s hindering them from loving each other as much as they want. They are aggressively imposing their minority values on the majority. So sure, society will oppose it. Naturally, right? In various, including brutal, forms.”