A week ago, we were discussing the awful viral video of ESPN reporter Britt McHenry bitching out a tow truck operator. Britt’s car had been towed in Arlington, Virginia, and as she went about paying the fine or whatever, she threw out some really tacky, classless and offensive insults at the woman behind the counter at the tow truck place. The video spread for about 24-36 hours before ESPN finally suspended McHenry. Her suspension? Just one week. And now she’s back at her job.

ESPN reporter Britt McHenry will return to television this weekend after a video showing her berating a parking attendant made waves on the Internet last week. ESPN senior coordinating producer Seth Markman confirmed to Sports Illustrated that McHenry will continue her role as reporter at NFL games on most weekends, adding that she will be in St. Louis next Thursday for the NFL draft.

“She’s had the draft assignment for a while and nothing’s changed,” Markman said.

McHenry was less than thrilled when her car was towed on April 6, taking out her anger in a profane tirade on a parking lot attendant – all of which was captured on video and posted to the Internet. “Maybe if I was missing some teeth, they would hire me, huh?” she says in the video, adding: “Lose some weight, baby girl.”

Markman says he realizes that some people won’t be happy to see McHenry on ESPN once again. “We had a conversation where we both talked about that it would take time and it will be hard. She knows that, and especially at the beginning. She realizes she will have to do her job really well and hopefully win back some of the trust of our viewers. We expect that from her, and I expect that from her. She did a great job for us on the NFL last year in some difficult situations and I have seen nothing that doesn’t make me think she will rebound from this,” he concluded. “But she knows the first couple of assignments out of the box will not be easy.”

[From People]

While I found McHenry’s tirade against a blue-collar worker to be offensive, elitist, bitchy and contemptible, I also took issue with the idea that ESPN would suspend a reporter over something reprehensible (but not illegal) that they did in their free time. I think we’d all like to see the full tape of the incident, as opposed to the edited version the tow truck company released. I’m not saying there’s even an “excuse” to speak to someone the way McHenry spoke to that woman, but it’s possible there was a give and take of insults and it wasn’t so one-sided. In any case, I don’t really care that McHenry is back on the job, but I do wonder if she’s going to have that job for much longer. Deadspin reported last week that McHenry does have a history of extreme acts of rudeness.

Here’s the video again (NSFW language).

Photos courtesy of McHenry’s Twitter.