The gloves came off last night on HLN.
HLN host Ashleigh Banfield, who called out a 23-year-old photographer over her accusations of sexual misconduct against Aziz Ansari in a piece on Babe.net, received an email riddled with insults from the reporter who broke the story. Banfield took a moment on her show to read an excerpt from the email written by 22-year-old Babe.net reporter Katie Way.
“Ashleigh, someone I am certain nobody under the age of 45 has ever heard of. I hope the 500 retweets on the single news write up made that burgundy lipstick, bad highlights, second wave feminist has-been really relevant for a little while,” read the email.
The seasoned war correspondent then touted her experience in a fiery response to Way.
“The last thing you should do is attack someone in an ad hominem way for her age. I’m 50,” Banfield said. “And for my highlights, I was brown-haired for a while when I was a war corespondent, interviewing Yasser Arafat, and in Afghanistan and Iraq, Gaza and the West Bank. Google those places. That is not the way we have this conversation as women or men.”
A visibly frustrated Banfield also expressed her disappointment in Way.
“We do not attack people for their age, or their highlights or their lipstick because it is the most hypocritical thing a woman who says she supports the women’s movement could ever do and that’s the caliber of the woman who was given all of this power and was able to wield this power.”
Earlier in the week, Banfield tore into Ansari’s accuser in a monologue on her show.
“You had an unpleasant date. And you didn’t leave. That is on you. And all the gains that have been achieved on your behalf and mine are now being compromised by allegations that are reckless and hollow.”
Babe.net editor Amanda Ross told Business Insider, which obtained the full email, that the excerpt read by Banfield was a “fraction” of Way’s message.
“Shame on her,” Way wrote. “Shame on HLN. Ashleigh… targeted a 23-year-old woman in one of the most vulnerable moments of her life, someone she’s never f—— met before, for a little attention.”
Ansari has dismissed the allegations and said in a statement that the encounter “by all indications was completely consensual.”