TV reporter sacked after wearing 'Make America Great Again' hat while covering Trump rally
The item has become a prominent emblem of Trump’s presidency
A local TV reporter has been sacked after wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat while covering Donald Trump’s rally in Rochester.
James Bunner was fired from KTTC-TV news station in Minnesota after he was seen wearing one of the US president’s trademark red baseball MAGA hats and a red jacket with KTTC’s logo.
The MAGA hat has become a prominent emblem of Mr Trump’s presidency – with critics of the president seeing the hats as synonymous with the administration’s perceived racism and xenophobia.
“He violated our policy so he’s no longer with us,” news director Noel Sederstrom told BuzzFeed News.
“We don’t allow our people to wear campaign clothing while on assignment.”
Mr Bunner, who joined KTTC in December 2017, was dismissed from the station the day after the rally.
The saga started on Thursday when Mark VanCleave, a journalist with the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, shared a photo of him standing outside the Mayo Civic Centre in the MAGA hat.
“Whyyyyy?” he wrote in the photo’s caption.
People then realised Mr Bunner’s social media pages contained many pro-Trump items.
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Wearing campaign merchandise – especially while working – is not allowed in the US media industry.
“I’ve met people all the way from Mankato, from Iowa, from Eagle Lake, you name it,” Mr Bunner said in his NBC news station’s Facebook Live feed.
“They are excited for the fact the president of the United States is visiting Rochester. This is big! This is ‘yuge’, in the words of Donald Trump.”
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