An employee at an Ohio news station has been fired for making a post that advocated celebrating “straight pride” during LGBTQ Pride Month.
Madonna Chism Pinkard, who served as community relations director for WFMJ-TV, has been fired from her position at the news station after sharing “unauthorized posts” last week, the news station announced on Facebook. post Tuesday, The Mahoning Problem.
Pinkard reportedly shared a post about “straight pride” on his own Facebook page while using a photo from the news station as his profile picture.
“WFMJ has terminated the employment of our community relations director following unauthorized posts made last week on company-affiliated social media sites,” the news station said in a post. “WFMJ is committed to serving our entire community with the respect we believe everyone deserves.”
https://www.facebook.com/21WFMJ/posts/866561468851447
The news station added that it “does not tolerate this type of behavior” and went on to “apologise” to viewers for the unauthorised post.
“We recognize that we live in a diverse community with differing opinions on many issues and believe that discussion and reporting of those opinions should be respectful for all,” the news station added. “We deeply regret that our community relations director overstepped his bounds.”
Pinkard, who uses the name “Madonna Jean” on her Facebook profile, share According to a screenshot of her post shared on the MLO Bros podcast, it was a photo of a man and woman in wedding dresses.
“Celebrate straight pride” and “It’s natural, it’s worked for thousands of years, and you can make babies!”
Breaking news. Thanks to the “miscellaneous folks” who quickly provided the screenshots. 21 WFMJ employees previously posted this on their page, but have since removed it. Ouch.
Contributor MLO Brothers upon Thursday, June 6, 2024
Several people took to the comments section to defend Pinkard and her post.
“I’m gay and I still don’t understand why the LGBT community is offended by something like this,” one user wrote. “I thought this was funny. She’s getting the reaction she wants. This post is a great example. Literally who cares lol.”
Another wrote: “That’s what we call free speech. No matter what side you’re on you’re allowed to exercise your First Amendment rights. Embrace it.”
“I’m gay and I think this is pretty funny,” commented a user named Joey Ritter.
The media outlet said Pinkard “deleted” the post and apologized for upsetting the news station’s “viewers.”
“I apologize for the content of the post. [sic] “The video was submitted by one of our viewers,” Pinkard said in a statement. “We have since removed it.”
