A Pittsburgh radio station is again under scrutiny after one of its reporters called Department of Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine, a transgender woman, “sir” at least three times during a Tuesday press call.
The incident happened while KDKA-AM personality Marty Griffin was asking a question about what the state’s “end game” is for reopening after the coronavirus, according to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star.
A Pittsburgh City Paper transcript shows Griffin called Levine “sir” in both his initial question and follow-up, leading her to tell him “please don’t misgender me,” and that it was “really insulting.”
Griffin later apologized on Twitter and said distractions caused him to use the wrong pronouns.
But the incident had repercussions in Pittsburgh, where Mayor Bill Peduto canceled an interview with KDKA-AM in light of it. His spokesperson said the incident with Levine, combined with Griffin’s reporting on another story, led him to the decision.
According to 2 Political Junkies, a Pittsburgh-based blog, Griffin made a similar error in 2014 when he called former soldier and whistleblower Chelsea Manning “Mr. Bradley,” and said she’d had some sort of “bizarre sex-change thing” going on. Manning had come out as transgender the year before.
This is not the first time KDKA-AM was involved in controversy this year. Host Wendy Bell was recently criticized for questioning whether it was worth shutting the economy down to “save less than 1% of our population” from the coronavirus.
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