A sports journalist at a local Connecticut outlet has been fired for a “racially insensitive” tweet directed at a Republican senator.
Fred Gerteiny, a sports reporter at News 12 Connecticut, lost his job after calling South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott an “Uncle Tom” in a now-deleted tweet on Wednesday.
“After reviewing the incident, the network released sports reporter, Fred Gerteiny, as a result of a racially insensitive comment,” the network said in a statement. “News 12 Networks has a zero tolerance policy for racism or improper conduct based on race, and prides itself on being an objective and unbiased multi-platform news company.”
His criticism was in response to Scott, the only black Republican senator, addressing President Trump’s remarks that the right-wing Proud Boys should “stand back and stand by” during Tuesday night’s presidential debate.
“I think he misspoke in response to Chris Wallace’s comment. He was asking Chris what he wanted to say. I think he misspoke. I think he should correct it. If he doesn’t correct it, I guess he didn’t misspeak,” Scott said.
Gerteiny issued an apology to the senator, according to the Daily Caller, but the tweet appears to have been deleted.
“Earlier today, I tweeted a racially insensitive comment, when I referred to @SenatorTimScott as an ‘Uncle Tom,'” Gerteiny tweeted. “I apologize to the Senator, my colleagues @News12CT, and anyone else I may have offended with this deeply offensive tweet.”
He said in a separate tweet that is still available that he “wrote an email to Senator Scott.”
