Renee Gork FIRED: Florida Hat Costs Arkansas Radio Personality Her Job

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — An Arkansas radio personality announced that she was fired Monday, two days after wearing a Florida Gators hat to an Arkansas Hogs news conference.

Renee Gork announced on Twitter that she had been fired by KAKS, a northwest Arkansas radio station that calls itself Hog Sports Radio. Gork had worn a Gator hat Saturday to a news conference with Arkansas football coach Bobby Petrino.

Petrino, whose team lost to the Gators last season 23-20 at Florida, commented on Gork's hat after answering a question she asked. "And that will be the last question I answer with that hat on," Petrino said.

Gork, a Florida graduate, said she grabbed the hat without thinking Saturday because it was raining outside. She also said she sent a letter of apology to the university and Petrino.

"Was hoping to publicly apologize to coach Petrino and UA fans on the show today ... but I won't get that chance," Gork wrote on KAKS' Twitter account. "I've been fired."

Gork could not be reached Monday for comment. There was no telephone listing in her name in the Fayetteville area.

KAKS general manager Dan Storrs confirmed in a telephone interview with The Associated Press that Gork was no longer working for the station but declined to comment further, saying it was a personnel matter.

However, he added, "This radio station is Hog Sports Radio. We are very biased. We support the Razorbacks 100 percent."

Comments

[mamacat]

05:19 PM on 08/23/2010

Sports should be fun, not a blood spectacle. These people should have at least let her apologize and keep her job.

[greezil428]

03:59 PM on 08/22/2010

She probably pretty lucky she's not an LSU fan,besides being ang a dumA&&!

[HDR]

09:28 AM on 08/22/2010

Land of the free...*

*Unless one's attire offends the sensitivities of a college-sanctioned football organization.

Another reason to not root for da hogs.

[CANTHATBE]

09:20 PM on 08/21/2010

Its just football. I don't care if she came dressed up as a alligator, the coach shouldn't take out his shortcomings on the reporter. Don't forget it is just suppose to be friendly competition.

[Shannon Cook]

11:57 PM on 08/20/2010

Anybody wearing a Gators hat deserves to be fired... regardless of where they work.

[themightylemur]

03:17 PM on 08/20/2010

that headline is misleading, she was fired because she got barred from practice, if you aren't allowed to cover what you were hired to cover, why keep you on?

[Village]

02:37 PM on 08/20/2010

We in Arkansas have nothing else. We have no professional football or basketball teams, nothing. The only have the Arkansas Razorbacks. They are the professional team of Arkansas. The entire state is unified behind the football (and basketball) teams, and can't abide any reference to another team. Although I was born in Arkansas, I went to Georgia, and have a Georgia Alumni sticker on my car, which has been keyed, repeatedly. Arkansas particularly hates Alabama, which as a UGA graduate I completely understand, and Arkansas can't abide Florida, which as a Georgia Bulldog, I share completely. If she had worn a Vanderbilt hat, she would have been laughed out of the building, but I don't think it would have had the same bite. She may be a good journalist, but she lacks good sense. You don't wear an opposing team's hat to another team's press conference, especially when said team can't seen to beat the team on the hat. The first thing she should have done on her first day of work was buy a Razorback hat.

[HoosierInMaryland]

04:37 AM on 08/21/2010

"The first thing she should have done on her first day of work was buy a Razorback hat."

AND put any and all Gator hats someplace where a conscious and mature decision would have to be made to get one out to wear.

[Michael Mayer]

04:15 PM on 08/21/2010

how childish

[Grannyk8]

12:40 PM on 08/20/2010

HP I am ashamed of you for posting this one sided drivel! She was let go by her employer as this affront was the last straw. It is unfortunate that we in Northwest Arkansas have a ratings deficient TV station that does not care to be unbiased

[krayoncolorz]

09:35 AM on 08/20/2010

GO GATORS! :D

[rjaxone]

12:04 AM on 08/19/2010

Oh, when I first saw the picture related to this story I thought it was going to be something about Sarah Palin. Sorry, no comment...

[RedBrown]

01:58 PM on 08/18/2010

Bottom line is rabid sports fans are impossible to reason with and frequently a danger to themselves and others. And that's not my opinion, that's a fact. It is a misguided sense of patriotism that motivates them to kill the enemy, at all costs.

[mukTech]

10:20 AM on 08/18/2010

Go Buckeyes!!

[mukTech]

10:06 AM on 08/18/2010

Stupid. Just utterly stupid!!

[kndam72]

12:21 PM on 08/18/2010

yep, I epxect here to win whatever case she brings against them

[EcologyDreams]

09:40 AM on 08/18/2010

She was on hot seat before the hat.

http://nwahomepage.com/fulltext-news/?nxd_id=180685

[greezil428]

09:32 AM on 08/18/2010

he woman wasn't fired simply because she wore a Gator hat during this, though I would have fired her for doing something that disrespectful and stupid. there were other and more serious issues that had happened and were happening that got her fired. This probably wasn't the first time this had happened seems she did this to Ryan Mallet in an interview(The UA QB).I think she was looking for something to happen .Check her FACEBOOK She said she was dreading going to work for UA media day but if it were florida it would be different..She worked for a radio station whose job was to cover the Razorbacks,Thier call HOG SPORTS RADIO, so you don't go to work with a gator hat on if you want keep your job,if you worked for Jerry Jones you wouldnt wear a Redskins jersey to work,if you were a Delta pilot you wouldn't wear a AA pendant on your hat to a board meeting.