WASHINGTON — Britt McHenry, the former sports television reporter who joined the State Department as a press adviser this fall, is out of the job after a confrontation in the stands at a Washington Wizards game went viral.
McHenry resigned Friday, two days after the Wednesday night home opener between the Wizards and the Milwaukee Bucks at Capital One Arena. A department official declined to discuss her departure, calling it an internal personnel matter. McHenry has said she signed a resignation letter.
Video that spread widely online shows McHenry leaving her seat while nearby fans jeer at her, some chanting for her removal. Liquid appears to hit or nearly hit her from behind, and she tosses a drink back toward the crowd before heading up the aisle, gesturing at the people taunting her.
The dispute reportedly started when people seated behind her shouted insults at Bucks forward Kyle Kuzma about his fiancee and McHenry told them to back off.
McHenry began her role under Secretary of State Marco Rubio in early September and traveled with the department communications staff to the United Nations General Assembly in New York during her first month.
This is not her first public controversy. A network suspended her for a week in 2015 after video surfaced of her berating a towing company employee.
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