WABC's Ken Rosato fired over mysterious 'remark'

[quote]Ken Rosato, longtime anchor of “Eyewitness News This Morning” on New York’s WABC 7, has been given the boot after allegedly making an off-color remark, Page Six has exclusively learned. Rosato was off the air when he uttered the phrase, we’re told, but an insider told us his remark was picked up “on an open mic” and was “immediately let go.”

[quote]It’s unclear what Rosato said or when exactly he made the comment. Another source would only say he was “fired for cause immediately."

What could it be?

He said he wanted to suck the Penny kid’s dick.

Maybe he said “fuck” during a live SNL broadcast. He should just kill himself.

Wasn't he formerly a priest?

I was wondering why I haven't seen him on the noon broadcast. He usually subbed for one of the other male anchors, David Navarro.

He's a NY eye-tie, so you can assume it was something about the "moolinyan"

Wow, this is nuts. I wonder what he said? And couldn't they have just given him a warning?

He said that Janet Jackson's tour isn't an embarrassment.

Wow, he’s been on forever. I wonder what he said to have been fired so abruptly. I’m guessing maybe something about a higher up.

Will Elon offer him a show, too?

"That oughta hold the little sons of bitches..."

No wonder he got fired R6.

Twitter:

“I will never watch ABC News again. To fire Ken Rosato is criminal. He is the only Italian American on ABC. I will go to PBS”.

🙄

"It took more than one man to change my name to Shanghai Lily!"

I miss the days of Sue Simmons and Steve Bartelstein, they would say anything. I wonder what happened to the latter, he was nuts.

Must have been the n-word.

[Quote]I miss the days of Sue Simmons and Steve Bartelstein

Since you're reminiscing about Sue Simmons ...

It's obvious. He called a coworker "a fag".

Another victim of contentious pasta draining discourse.

He said Michelle Obama was an ashy, triflin' ape who was borned a man.

[quote]It's obvious. He called a coworker "a fag".

WTF? Isn't Ken gay?

Really, R20? I'm not familiar with him. I assumed he was straight.

Ken Rosato is [italic]allegedly[/italic] gay, like David Tyler Muir. He supposedly had a Grindr chat with someone, of which the screenshots were saved for posterity.

He was fired for misgendering Sam Smith.

r14, people of color can use that word.

Troubling that we’re in an age where one slip and an entire career gets wiped out. It would have to be pretty egregious IMHO.

[quote]Troubling that we’re in an age where one slip and an entire career gets wiped out. It would have to be pretty egregious IMHO.

Yet, Drumpf, one of the most vile people on the planet, is still given a daily platform to spew his venom and lies. While the media continues to lap up his non-stop hate and bullshit.

Maybe he said something like:

"I would love to suck HIS dick!"

or

"I'd love to pound his ass."

or

"I want him to fuck my ass hard!"

Not saying what it was leaves it to people's imagination, which makes it worse.

r27 nailed it. Thread closed.

He also might've called a fellow employee a fucking cunt.

He probably called someone a cunt.

They (virtually) all are gay

Idiot R5 is one of those that wonders why you wouldn't just shoot the rampaging meth head in the leg as he's coming at you with a knife to kill you.

You fucking deal with the immediate situation and wait for the consequences.

R35, what are you talking about? You sound like a fucking lunatic. Go back to bed.

R35 Words aren't knives, dear.

In addition to the alleged Grindr interaction, he owns a home in New Jersey with another man, who is a producer at WCBS. All signs point to homosexual.

Probably called someone a cunt.

Ken is gay, though he doesn't openly admit it. I follow him on FB and he often says things like "we" went to the Florida Keys without naming who the "we" is. And he's always one of the ABC News hosts of the Pride parade. I'm sorry to see him go. He seems like a genuinely nice guy. I'm thinking that since the migrant crisis is the lead story in the news lately, maybe it had something to do with that? That's just a guess.

[quote]And couldn't they have just given him a warning?

Dipshits R36 and R37 don't fucking get it. It doesn't fucking matter if he came at someone with a physical weapon or just words, he broke the rules, clearly such that they had no other option.

You don't give someone a "warning" if the offense is so egregious there's no other option but the one they had.

Ken and hubby, Chris, have nice house in suburban New Jersey.

He was once an ordained pastor. This is from a newspaper interview he did in 2001, when he was also working as a news anchor in Florida.

[Quote]Positions: Pastor, St. Anthony of Padua, a parish of 20 members with a chapel in Hollywood. News anchor for WFOR-Ch. 4. Ordained March 25 in the Catholic Apostolic Church in North America, an independent Catholic movement with its roots in 1940s Brazil.

[Quote]Q. Why did you want to become ordained?

[Quote]A. I’ve always felt drawn to the church and ministry. And this was the closest I could find to being a Catholic priest, while functioning in a career. I was raised Catholic, and I have some issues with the church, but not enough to keep me away from this. It satisfies my desire to help people in the community as a priest.

[Quote]Q. Why not make the priesthood a full-time vocation?

[Quote]A. Covering the messes in South Florida gives me more insight into what people are going through. When I go to a scene where people were burned out of their house or someone was murdered, people can sense a sensitivity, a compassion. I don’t shove microphones in faces. I wait till there’s a good time to talk.

[quote]Positions: Pastor, St. Anthony of Padua, a parish of 20 members with a chapel in Hollywood. News anchor for WFOR-Ch. 4. Ordained March 25 in the Catholic Apostolic Church in North America, an independent Catholic movement with its roots in 1940s Brazil.

Brazil? Was Miss Santos one of his parishioners?

First Damn Lemon and now Kin Risotto. Cunty fraus are crying bloody tampon in the workplace and pushing the gays out to get ahead. MeToo, cancel culture, and silent exhaustion with anything trans or gay has made this possible. The gays are no longer safe in broadcasting! What's next, academia?

[quote] Dipshits [R36] and [R37] don't fucking get it. It doesn't fucking matter if he came at someone with a physical weapon or just words, he broke the rules, clearly such that they had no other option.

You skipped your Tourette's medication dose, hon.

Whatever, R41. You can't expect your points to be taken seriously if you can't make them without attacking people and name-calling. Nothing said in this thread has warranted such an over-the-top response.

[quote]You don't give someone a "warning" if the offense is so egregious there's no other option but the one they had.

We don't know if the offense is so egregious. We don't know what he said. Maybe his boss exercised poor judgment.

He said Mickey Mouse sucks cocks in hell.

This is nuts. How about suspending the guy for an off chance lie remark.

Actually R41, you do give employees warnings; usually three. The first results in coaching; the second in counseling; and the third with termination.

To be fired on the spot, it must have been something so beyond the pale that he had put the company (or other employees) in jeopardy.

Did he ask his supervisor if she's on her period? i had to learn the hard way about that.

[quote]You sound like a fucking lunatic. Go back to bed.

You mean like your unhinged posts at R36/R37, R47?

I merely stepped over that very low bar.

Ken's rep said it was NOT not a Racial Slur, probably said something about one of the bitches at 7, and not necessarily a woman on-air.

R54, please check your post at R35 to see how this conversation started. Have a nice day.

In 2012 at WQXR in New York, morning host Greg Whiteside was on the phone in his office when someone passing the desk heard him make a comment. Next thing thing he knew, he was fired. Greg joined WRTI in Philadelphia, where he retired in 2021.

And, R56? Subtlety rarely works on morons.

Exactly, R58. That’s why I called you a lunatic. As you said, subtlety rarely works on morons.

With most radio and TV contracts on News and Talk stations, if you are fired, you can't work in the same market for 12-months. Bob Grant was sacked from a New York station, nearest he could work was WWDB in Philly. After a year, returned to air in The Big Apple.

His husband posted on Instagram that today is their 24th anniversary.

I refuse to believe those Grindr messages are real. Why would he approach a hookup that way?

I dunno r63. Drunk? Oversensitive? Moment of stupid entitlement and frustration? I'm not on Grindr, but I imagine people get sick of the bullshit and sometimes lash out in stupid ways.

He commented that Robin Roberts' pussy stinks, and then issued him the walking papers...

Ken's 57th birthday was on Thursday.

Looking at the Grindr exchange, I couldn't tell. Did he ever mention he was a news anchor?

[quote] you do give employees warnings; usually three. The first results in coaching; the second in counseling; and the third with termination.

So maybe this was the third offense.

"C*nt" and "f*ggot" do not get you fired. There is only ONE word used on air that gets you fired.

I'm better it was something incredibly off-color along the lines of "I'd fuck his ass" or "Can you imagine fucking those tits" or some such.

Usually if someone is fired for a comment it's never the first time or even the second time they've said it/done it/said something similar.

What is it with local 7 and crazy queens?

Yet Sam Champion remains...

[quote]Why would he approach a hookup that way?

What do you mean exactly? Mentioning his job or being an asshole? Because the answer is the same. You will never a find a more arrogant, self-absorbed group of assholes than media people. Hollywood has nothing on them.

[Quote] His husband posted on Instagram that today is their 24th anniversary.

Link??

What kind of bullshit fake headline is that in R73's link? He doesn't "break his silence," the story just repeats the exact same story in OP's link. There's zero comments by Rosato.

Well, let’s see if he sues for unlawful termination, r71.

I'm so glad I don't live in liberal shithole New York.

Or any 'woke' blue state for that matter.

It's like the Soviet Union there.

i never liked him, he looked creepy and is cocked eyed

Who will Shirleen host with now?

LOL @R79. God, what a simpleton you are. Yes, it's exactly like the Soviet Union. Exactly!

BTW, R79. The actual examples of the USSR can be found in red places like Oklahoma where the governor has decided that your favorite word "woke" is the reason he won't let people watch PBS...'cause that's what "anti-woke patriots" do. They ban media and books and a woman's right to her own bodily decisions...which is totally not the type of thing you'd see in a communist country.

Why would a priest be on Grindr?

R81, Mike Marza is sitting in Ken's chair.

A source says Ken said something about only real women being celebrated on Mother’s Day.

You can ignore obvious trolls you know. There's even a function to permanently block their posts. Try it.

He said "cuntbone" and it confused and upset all the higher ups.

Fucking find it yourself R75

he called fellow anchor CUNT. Allicot.

But was it actually broadcast live? I can't find a clip of it anywhere

During a staff luncheon, he tried to get the full Autumn Harvest when only ordering Once Around the Garden. Bosses were not pleased and did not want to pay for the extra trips around the salad bar.

I'm sure it was something stupid.

Back to that Sue Simmons clip of her falling out of the chair was she like drunk and then they tried to make a funny haha about it later cuz that just seems weird.

No, he wasn't on air when he said it, but the mic was on so I guess producers et al heard.

I bet it had to do with Sam Champion being a bossy bottom. So now news anchors cannot speak the truth?!

You mean it's like Florida, r79, where free speech is under attack by the Republican government?

Fuck off and die painfully.

I have never met a woman who's been called a cunt not being one. I'm with Ken on this one. She definitely has resting cunt face.

Then you can join Ken in the unemployment line.

"I want someone, anyone, inside me quite deeply."

Always assume that a mic is hot. Was Rosato drunk when he made the remark or is he just really stupid?

People are so sensitive these days.

That Grinder exchange reveals who the real cunt is.

I have my own personal issue with WABC, so I think the whole place is full of cunts.

Wow...I was wondering where he was? I thought maybe a vacation. That's a shame. I like him.

We used to have a WABC Insider.

See you next Tuesday, Shirleen!

Wasn't it widely rumored to be Steve Bartlestein, R108?

Was it, R110??? Wow, I didn't know that.

[quote]I refuse to believe those Grindr messages are real. Why would he approach a hookup that way?

R63 I will offer my experience on the matter. I eschew any liaisons with married, partnered, etc., because, inter alia, the already relationshipped, sheltered by their primary relationship, are among the most entitled, demanding and downright rude people I encounter on dating sites and apps. I've experienced similar behavior many times. Similar with guys with money, partnered or not - super demanding, lack manners and tact, prone to manipulative tactics.

ABC Insider who knows abt David Muir’s secret lover, Cartwright?

Yes, I miss WABC Insider. He/she used to have great dish.

A pussy is warm and welcoming, A Cunt is the woman who owns it.

R114, ABC Insider alerted to the afternoon delights of Jennings and Muir at the Hotel Empire, a few blocks from the studio.

[quote]ABC Insider alerted to the afternoon delights of Jennings and Muir at the Hotel Empire, a few blocks from the studio.

I suspect our ambitious young David Tyler Muir would have presented hole for Hugh Downs if there was the slightest advantage to it.

R117, neither Hugh Downs nor David Three Name is gay. Could you please relax?

So he Don Lemon'd his way out of a job, eh?

I'm surprised that "c*nt" got him fired.

We've really entered a new stage of language policing if "c*nt" can get you fired.

I'm so glad that I've slowly stopped using most words that I used to throw around casually like "f*ck" and "c*nt" when hanging out so that I don't slip up in the wrong situation.

I said cunt spontaneously and rather loudly at Costco last week and a woman overheard me and laughed, fortunately. I said it because they price of Premier Protein has gone up again - now $33 for an 18-pack, up from $22 a year ago, and $16 a year before that.

damn, i say cunt all the time. esp when referring to people I don't like.

Will there be an investigation to ascertain if this woman is, in fact, a cunt? It seems like the only just and reasonable thing to do.

He seems like a cunt in his own right if that Grindr exchange is legit, but then, most media people are cunts.

Did he kick a female co-worker in her cunt bone?

So it really was him calling her a cunt! Datalounge called it early on. Kuddos to R31, R32, R39, and R88,

You can't be so dense as to believe throwing out the word cunt at the supermarket or among friends is the same thing as flinging it around at work, especially towards a colleague?

R128 In the old days, he would've been simply reprimanded, or temporarily suspended, for calling someone a cunt. Nowadays, that'll get you fired, which still shocks some people.

yeah, but it's hard, you forget sometimes. if you use it so much in your daily life...you can easily make a mistake and it just comes out!

So what difference is it if ABC News Boss Kim Goodwin protects black women at all costs but fires a gay man, instead of a white male boss protecting another white male as in the days of the "old boys network"? How do we know her behavior was not egregious enough to make him call her that word because she KNEW she was protected?

R132, you seriously think if she called him a "faggot," she would still have her job?

well, sometimes people get too cocky. he probably thinks he's been there for decades, they ain't gonna do nothing to him, he's a treasure etc etc. so he acts like a fucking asshole all the time and gets away with it most of the time. Maybe they've been trying to get rid of him and this was the perfect reason.

Yes r133 I do. Yes there are exceptions, but black women are notoriously homophobic.

First of all, he was a prompter reader. And not even attractive! These people should never be mistaken for actual journalists.

In major markets they are pretty well paid (though the $5 million salary remark, if he made it, is so incredibly far off the mark as to be ludicrous).

There are boatloads of mid-market people begging to be called up to the big time to take the place of brats and assholes who are too big for their britches.

Calling a co-workers a cunt is an aggressive form of harassment. She could rightly claim hostile work environment, which is apparently was. Clearly there was animosity there and with that remark he pushed the situation into untenable.

He handed them a smoking gun. And honestly, even the large TV stations are desperately trying to reduce their costs as cord-cutters alter the market. They must have been thrilled to stop paying his big salary.

Now that makes sense r136.

if he would have just grabbed her by the pussy, he'd be President

maybe she is a cunt? sometimes you just have to call a cunt a cunt

Yeah, the NFL, Keurig, Gillette and Disney really went broke. MAGAt's need to stick with white trash brands like Bud Light to go after, if they actually want to look like their boycotts work.

If no one learned from Tucker Carlson's firing, even though being there for many years and popular. They're all expendible.

Stop blaming the victim. There is no reason to say she deserved it.

It’s utterly outrageous that he felt so comfortable, which miked, to say something like that. (And I’m a big fan of the C word but it never crossed my mind, let alone my lips, while a work.) You have to be really out of control to say something like that.

And he’s long been this closeted freak… in the NYC market, of all places! Sorry, that’s pathetic and very 1989 Des Moines of him.

Sorry, but I have zero sympathy for him. In fact, the fact that he hired an attorney to go around saying he hadn’t said anything racist, showed a commitment to deflecting vs owning up to what he said.

[quote] He seems like a genuinely nice guy.

If that Grindr exchange is real, he seems like an asshole.

And he seems to like to brag about having the job he just lost.

R118, if you don't think David is gay, tell that to the longtime partner he shares a bed with, in their Village house.

Whatever happened to Steve Bartelstein, anyway?

R136, one offensive word said once does not make a hostile work environment.

well, at least he didn't mis-gender her, that would be grounds for execution

I hope Ken at least had the satisfaction of calling her a cunt to her face.

R148, assuming it was only once, is presumptuous.

Supposedly he said: "What is it you cunt face?"

If they ever hack Datalounge or Muriel sells the user data to the Squad, lots of Dataloungers will lose their jobs.

He said he wanted to sit on top and fuck up the night.

He said the Tetragrammaton, Rose!

(which also happens to be 4 letters)

R143 Ken's never been in the closet Co-hosts the Gay Parade on ABC-7. Has been married (to the same guy) for 24 years, an Executive Producer at CBS.

R136, when our sister, Sue Simmons, retired from WNBC-4 she was making $5 million for two newscasts, 5:00-6:00 and 11:00-11:30 weeknights.

There are very few gay men in their fifties now on tv news. There are however an enormous amount of American-Women, more so than the general population warrants. However if I point that out, forget it. After Don's and Ken's demise, Anderson had better watch himself carefully.

[quote] There is no reason to say she deserved it.

See R139.

Another reason, R158, there aren't many gay men in their 50s in the news is because AIDS, and because they are the leading edge of the baby bust aka GenX - there weren't as many of them to begin with.

He called someone a garlic eater! I knew it! So offensive!

Lol if calling your female co-worker a cunt isn’t strong grounds for dismissal, what is short of physical contact? You people bringing up her race are being silly.

R147...I think Bartelstein fell asleep during a commercial break, when he was on air. I'm not sure though.

Also, according to his Wikipedia page, Bartelstein is no longer in broadcasting:

[quote]On August 12, 2010, it was announced that he would be joining WBBM-TV in Chicago as a morning-news anchor. On July 3, 2011, it was announced that he left WBBM after only 10 months, putting an end to his broadcasting career.

Sorry, if I had a female friend who was bullied by a long-established co-worker like this, I’d do what I could to fix his ass.

He’s a terrible human.

I wonder what happened to elicit him saying that. They always seemed to adore each other on air.

If Rosato called her a "c*nt," he deserved to be fired. That is a despicable, vulgar, and violent-laden epithet. If I were the co-worker who was the object of his vitriol, I would be threatened by it.

i mean, did he say Sharline, you're a cunt. or was it obvious that he was referring to her? he should have just said, i hate the cunt and don't mention names etc.

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