‘Should Know Better’: Texas News Station Scrambles to Apologize After White Reporter’s Racist Remark Airs Live During Karmelo Anthony Trial
Intentional or slip of the tongue? That’s what the internet wants to know after a Texas reporter made a controversial statement while covering the Karmelo Anthony trial.
Anthony, 18, was sentenced to 35 years in prison for the murder of 17-year-old Austin Metcalf in 2025.
Since he was a minor at the time of the murder, Anthony is not eligible for the death penalty.
Rebecca Lopez, a reporter for WFAA in Dallas, made the comment on Tuesday. She was describing the racial tension surrounding the case.
“Let’s talk a little bit about the big, uh, gorilla so to speak,” she said. “There were people out here on both sides shouting racial slurs at one another. But it was very clear that the defense and prosecution did not want this to be about race. They said this was not about race.”
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The person who reposted the video on Threads, @sheajordansmith, called Lopez out.
“Reporters have every right to provide analysis while waiting on a verdict,” he wrote. “But when a reporter covering the Karmelo Anthony trial refers to the ‘gorilla in the room,’ I’m going to need some more clarification on exactly what was meant by that.”
It appears Lopez took a pause before saying “gorilla,” using it to replace the common phrase “elephant in the room.”
“When the case involves a Black defendant and the substituted term happens to be ‘gorilla,’ it raises legitimate questions about judgment, professionalism, and awareness,” @sheajordansmith added.
Other people commented on the post, calling Lopez out.
“If you’ve watched these two and their commentator on trial for many years, it’s a huge disappointment. I have messaged @wfaa many times because they must have better people for this type of coverage,” @patsyhouston commented.
“She is a seasoned reporter. She should know better,” @mathactivitybooks added.
“Ethical responsibility and objectivity as a journalist, she doesn’t have any professionalism or decorum. WFAA, is this what you platform really?” @melvin_emery3 wrote.
Lopez is the senior crime and justice reporter for the news station. She has worked at WFAA since 1998.
“When a different animal gets substituted into that phrase, people are going to notice.”
Atlanta Black Star reached out to WFAA and received the following statement:
“Yesterdaty while reporting on the track meet stabbing trial, our reporter used an idiom to describe dynamics in the courtroom that was inappropriate. We apologize for that error and are committed to ensuring this doesn’t happen in the future.
This mistake in no way reflects the culture of our newsroom or tenure of our coverage. Our reporters are held to high standards and abide by the principles of ethical journalism. We hope our long track record of fair, balanced, and sensitive reporting, specifically on this case, speaks for itself.”