Ashleigh Banfield Responds On Air To Insulting Email From Aziz Ansari Story Reporter
HLN anchor Ashleigh Banfield on Tuesday criticized the woman who wrote an article alleging that actor Aziz Ansari had committed sexual misconduct, saying the writer sent her derogatory and anti-feminist comments.
The conflict between Banfield and Katie Way, who wrote the article for online outlet Babe in which an unnamed woman accused Ansari of sexual assault, began Monday. Banfield addressed the allegations on air by saying they were “reckless.”
Tonight on @CrimeJusticeHLN, @TVAshleigh speaks out on behalf of journalism and women's rights amid @azizansari's accuser sparking #MeToo backlash. https://t.co/QzHHqRHRox
— HLN Public Relations (@HLNPR) January 17, 2018
Way then sent an angry email to an HLN producer, parts of which Banfield read during an episode of “Crime & Justice.”
“Ashleigh, someone I am certain nobody under the age of 45 has heard of,” Banfield read. “I hope the 500 retweets on the single news write-up made that burgundy lipstick, bad highlights, second-wave feminist has-been really relevant for a little while.”
Here's the full email the https://t.co/YZ14Jca6FS reporter who wrote the Aziz Ansari story sent when asked to go on HLN with @TVAshleigh. It is really something.https://t.co/qTca5xA9m0 pic.twitter.com/usZBm0KnIr
— Max Tani (@maxwelltani) January 17, 2018
Banfield, 50, called the comments about her looks and age hypocritical from someone who claims to support women.
“The reason I want to share that is because if you truly believe in the #MeToo movement, if you truly believe in women’s rights, if you truly believe in feminism, the last thing you should do is attack someone in an ad hominem way for her age ... and for my highlights,” Banfield said.
Way did not immediately responded to HuffPost’s request for comment.
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
