Things got testy this week on the set of “The Broadcast,” a Dallas morning show in the mold of “The View.”
The four co-hosts were divided over NFL draftee Michael Sam, who shared an on-air kiss with his boyfriend following his historic selection by the St. Louis Rams.
And no one felt more strongly than Amy Kushnir, who decried the kiss and the networks for airing it.
“When parents do not have a choice about whether or not they want their children to see this, it is wrong,” Kushnir complained.
Two of her co-hosts pushed back — at one point, Courtney Kerr said that the backlash over the kiss was “racist toward homosexuals” — but Kushnir was unmoved.
She said she didn’t consider Sam’s selection a “moment of celebration”
“It’s being pushed in faces. I don’t want to see that,” Kushnir said.” I don’t want to see cake in your face, kissing each other.”
Suzie Humphreys, another member of the panel, rushed to Kushnir’s defense. Humphreys took issue both with the fallout over Donald Sterling’s remarks and the punishment levied against a member of the Miami Dolphins who mocked Sam on Twitter.
“It is all one-sided,” Humphreys surmised. “It all has to do with social media. The whole thing. And I know I represent a lot of people who are sick of it.”
Humphreys wondered why Kushnir didn’t have a right to speak her mind “without being slambasted [sic] about.”
Ultimately, it was too much for Kushnir. She feigned a smile, gathered her papers and delivered a walk-off line for the ages.
“Why don’t we just go to Midland?” she asked, staring into the camera. “I’m done.”
When she was asked if she was going to leave, Kusnir said, “No, I’m gonna go to Midland.”
Brian Joyce, the station manager at KTXD, issued a statement in Kushnir’s defense.
“While KTXD-TV neither supports nor condemns opinions shared by our hosts, we stand behind both ‘The Broadcast’ and Ms. Kushnir,” Joyce said. “We wholeheartedly stand behind their right to voice their opinions as an integral part of our program. We have clearly ruffled feathers, and in doing so we hope we have advanced the dialogue on this important issue.”
Based on her Twitter activity, it doesn’t appear that Kushnir minds the attention.
@martzietay that’s right!!!
— Amy Kushnir (@MyTexasToday) May 14, 2014
Kushnir storms off around the 8:20 mark, but the entire nine-minute segment is worth watching.
shorter Kushnir: Why can’t football players just be happy repeatedly smashing into each other at 35mph for my viewing pleasure? That’s what my children and I want to see. Sporty brain damage is much better than boys kissing!
Basically, she threw a temper tantrum because she can’t deny the existence of happy gay people the way her parents probably shielded her from knowing that Blacks and Latinos actually existed when she was a kid so that she wouldn’t grow up to be a racist. Err…I mean that she was probably protected by her parents so that she would grow up with the same attitudes towards race as them…not that shielding her from Blacks and Latinos would make her not a racist.
I bet she’s frigid.
It’s Texas. Whadya expect?
So according to Humphries, Kushnir has the right to speak her mind but nobody can speak out in objection to her position. What’s in Midland?