TV presenter apologizes after comparing her black partner with a gorilla

• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in a new window)
• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in a new window)
• Click here to share on LinkedIn (Opens in a new window)
• Click to email a friend (Opens in a new window)

Alex Housden apologizes to Jason Hackett and his television audience.

(CNN) - An Oklahoma TV presenter apologized a day later for comparing her black co-host to a gorilla.

Alex Housden told his colleague, Jason Hackett, that a gorilla at the Oklahoma City Zoo "looks like you." This happened on Thursday, at the end of a program on KOCO-TV, a CNN affiliate.

He referred to what he called hurtful comments on the next day's show.

"Yesterday I said something that was inconsiderate, inappropriate and hurt people," Housden said tearfully to the public and Hackett.

• A black man was handcuffed and detained in his own home after the burglar alarm went off

“And I want you to know, I understand how much I hurt you and how much I hurt you. I love you so much, and you have been one of my best friends for the past year and a half. And I would never do anything on purpose to hurt you. And I love our community and I want everyone to know, from the bottom of my heart, I apologize for what I said. I know it was wrong and I'm very sorry. ”

Housden did not address the racism implied in his comparison of a black man with an ape.

Hackett accepted the apologies in the air and recognized the pain caused.

"It hurt a lot and many of you in the community," he said.

Housden and Hackett approached each other as they talked. Hackett agreed that Housden was one of his best friends.

• White supremacism is a "persistent and widespread threat" to the US, says the FBI director

Hackett said he hoped the episode could serve as a wake-up call and a "teaching moment" in which "words matter," especially during a time of demographic changes in the United States.

"We have to understand stereotypes," he said. "We have to understand each other's background and the words that hurt, the words that cut deeply."

Oklahoma discrimination