Amy Kushnir, a co-host of the Dallas
morning talk show The Broadcast, stormed off the show
Wednesday morning as the four women discussed ESPN's broadcast of a
kiss between NFL draftee Michael Sam and his boyfriend, Vito
Cammisano.
An emotional Sam reached for Cammisano
when he learned that he had been picked by the St. Louis Rams in the
seventh and final round of this year's draft, making Sam the first
openly gay player to be drafted by the NFL.
Co-host Lisa Pineiro introduced the
topic of “the kiss seen around the world” as a celebration.
But Kushnir said the kiss was “wrong”
because she does not “want it in my face.”
“When parents do not have a choice
about whether or not they want their children to see this, it is
wrong,” Kushnir said. “He has every right to do what he wants, I
just don't want it in my face.”
After suggesting that she objected to
the airing of all kisses, Kushnir stated that “ESPN would not have
aired any of it had he been kissing his wife.”
“This was an opportunity to make
news,” she
argued.
Of course, ESPN routinely shows
athletes kissing their wives or girlfriends after a victory or loss.
Courtney Kerr argued that making
homophobic remarks was “gay racism.”
“It kind of comes off as being racist
toward homosexuals,” Kerr said of the criticism.
“You can't say what you feel without
being persecuted, if it doesn't go along with mainstream,” Kushnir
said.
“It's all one-sided,” Suzie
Humphreys said. “It all has to do with social media. And I
represent a lot of people that are sick of it.”
As Kerr and Pineiro continued to pull
apart Kushnir's arguments, she ultimately stormed off the set,
stating that she was “going to Midland!” (The video is embedded
on this page. Visit
our video library for more videos.)
On Twitter, Kushnir replied “that's
right!!!” when a follower defended her actions: “What Amy did was
up close & unscripted, just like the show.”