A White Los Angeles news anchor has been fired after criticizing a Black co-worker on the air. Former ABC7 News anchor Ken Rosato was caught on a hot microphone calling Shirleen Allicot a “c—.”
There’s a first time for everything. Anchoring Eyewitness News at Noon with the lovely @CandaceMcCowan7. I hope you’ll join us❤️ pic.twitter.com/0FIvLZ4H32
— Shirleen Allicot (@ShirleenAllicot) June 8, 2020
When Allicot was preparing to go on maternity leave in 2019, Rosato gifted her with a bouquet of flowers.
Rosato also brought Allicot flowers on set on Valentine’s Day in 2018.
“Who buys flowers for every woman he works with on the morning show, and I mean every woman???” Allicot wrote on Facebook. “Ken Rosato, that’s who! He helped make our day a little sweeter, especially for those of us who might be single, or don’t celebrate, and not expecting anything.”
Rosato started at the station as a freelance reporter in 2003 before being promoted to an anchor, Page Six reported. His biography has been scrubbed from the station’s website.
Rosato’s representatives told Page Six he wasn’t dismissed from the company for making a racial remark about Allicot.
“Being fired for any racial slur is 100 percent inaccurate and untrue,” the rep reportedly said. “Ken Rosato had a benchmark of 20 years at WABC of supporting all equality.”
