Former State Department press adviser Britt McHenry, who was forced to resign after throwing a drink at a fan during an NBA game, is breaking her silence, saying a man told her she should be gang-raped moments before she threw her beer.
McHenry, a former ESPN reporter and Fox Nation commentator, shared her account in a video posted Wednesday about the Oct. 21 incident at the Washington Wizards-Milwaukee Bucks game at Capital One Arena. She attended the game with her friend, YouTuber Andrew Fenichel.
McHenry said the trouble began when a man seated in front of them began heckling Bucks forward Kyle Kuzma, a former Wizards player, about his fiancée, model Winnie Harlow.
“He’s saying things like, ‘Kuzma, you suck because your girl’s hideous,’ made comments about her skin condition, said it was like Michael Jackson, said just vile things about her,” McHenry said. Harlow has vitiligo.
McHenry admitted she “probably shouldn’t have” responded with a snarky remark about the man’s own girlfriend. She said another man in the row then turned around and cursed at her.
According to McHenry, the group began throwing drinks at her and her friend, and the situation escalated further.
“The main agitator says something truly vile to me about what should be done to me, allegedly about getting gang-raped outside, and that is when I threw the rest of my beer in that direction, turned around, and said, ‘Drew, let’s get out of here,’” she said.
She said the group then pelted them with towels as they left. “In hindsight, I wish we had left,” McHenry said, adding that she left the arena voluntarily.
“I could say a lot more, but I already lost my job for it,” McHenry wrote in a post. “I believe in sticking up for another woman, which is what I did, and for yourself when you’re being heckled and harassed.”
Video of the incident, first published by TMZ, showed McHenry tossing a drink toward the stands and walking up the aisle as fans booed. She waved and blew kisses toward the crowd as she left.
McHenry, 40, joined the State Department in September as a press adviser covering Europe and Africa. She was promoted on the day of the game to lead External Affairs and Press for Under Secretary Jacob Helberg’s team, but was forced out the next day.
“She was promoted and fired within 24 hours,” a source told Page Six. A State Department spokesperson declined to comment, calling it an internal personnel matter.
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