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TV news producer fired after using n-word in rant caught on camera

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The WSVN-Channel 7 producer caught lobbing the n-word at a Fort Lauderdale neighbor during a dispute over street parking was fired by the Fox affiliate on Monday morning, just days after her second anniversary at the station, reports the Miami Herald. Robin Cross, 49 and a South Florida news figure for most of her adult life, was placed on leave last week when the neighbor’s son sent the station a letter and video about the incident. The footage went viral, and WSVN terminated her in less than a week. “After conducting a thorough investigation, WSVN has terminated a 7 news producer who was caught on cellphone video using a racial slur,” station spokeswoman Lily Pardo said in a statement. “WSVN will not tolerate any kind of discriminatory language or behavior.” She also confirmed the producer was indeed Cross, a veteran of CBS affiliates in Miami and West Palm Beach and NBC6 in Miami, as well as news radio WIOD-610 AM. In the now-infamous video, Cross is confronted by retired car dealer Robert Fenton, 66, on the canal-front Isle of Venice Drive in Fort Lauderdale after she parked her car near his driveway. The dispute apparently has been ongoing for several years, and when Fenton came out to confront her on Feb. 6, Cross told station officials that she “just lost it” after “years of bullying.” This time, Fenton was filming the scene on his cellphone. “You don’t f–king own the road,” Cross is heard telling Fenton after he told her she is blocking his driveway. Standing next to her car, she then launches into a tirade about how street parking is illegal anyway, but Fenton also parks there when the space is open. At the end of the 50-second video, Cross can be heard saying: “Yes, I used the word f–king if you haven’t heard it before. Except for your f–king son who’s dating a f–king n—-r, adding, “Finally, I said it out loud.” Fenton’s son, Avery Fenton, a lawyer, routinely visits his dad with his girlfriend, an African-American doctorate student. Avery Fenton reacted to the firing this morning by saying “justice was served. I’m glad WSVN did the right thing, and this puts the matter to rest as far as I’m concerned. I hope she will act with more care and thoughtfulness with the people around her in the future. “Everybody is owed dignity and respect. This was an issue of human decency, and I was just looking for WSVN to do the right thing.” As for dad Robert Fenton, he called today a “sad day. Nobody wants to see another person lose her job. But in this case, the punishment fit the crime.”

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