‘Looming orange face’ Trump comment gets newscaster canned

A reference to former President Donald Trump’s “looming orange face” was blamed for costing a WSB-TV Atlanta commentator his desk job.

Commentator Bill Crane, speaking about the upcoming midterms and the former president’s alleged efforts to cheat in the 2020 presidential election, said Monday that Labor Day is often when undecided voters decide which candidates they’re going to support in November. That task is being complicated, according to Crane, by investigations into Trump and his surrogates’ attempts to interfere in Georgia’s previous election.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during the America First Agenda Summit, at the Marriott Marquis hotel on July 26, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Drew Angerer/)

“(That) keeps Donald Trump and his looming orange face in front of voters at a time when they’re trying to decide how they’re going to vote,” Crane said.

WSB-TV condemned Crane’s remarks in a statement announcing they would cut ties with the “outside third-party political analyst” whose remarks were “not aligned with our commitment to fair and unbiased reporting.”

The Macon Telegraph reported that Crane confessed he can see why Trump followers found his comments “offensive” and found himself a bit red-faced after being reprimanded.

“The ego is bruised, and I am a bit down...but not out,” he said.

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Trump, an avid golfer, frequently appears on camera orange-faced. Speculation around his cantaloupe complexion include the theories that he uses a tanning bed, cakes on makeup, spends a lot of time outdoors and a combination of the three. The Washington Post reported in 2019 that a Swiss makeup company called Bronx Colors takes credit for the former reality TV star’s sunshine-like appearance. According to the New York Times, Trump administration staffers followed the narrative that “good genes” were to credit for the 45th president’s citrus hue.

Trump’s presence in Georgia cast a pall over the 2020 election for Republicans. Both of the state’s Senate seats went to Democratic candidates and Peach State voters put a Democrat in the White House, over Trump, which they had not done since the 20th century. The GOP kingmaker could also face legal jeopardy for phoning Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in 2020, pressuring him to “find 11,780 votes” that would tip the state’s presidential vote in Trump’s favor.