The rise, and likely fall, of Blake McCoy

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Blake McCoy was once a promising young star in TV news.

Only in his 30s, he graduated from George Washington University in 2007, according to his LinkedIn page, and after a four month stint as a legislative intern with the U.S. House of Representatives, joined KBOI in Boise, Idaho (currently market 103).

He jumped to KTNV in Las Vegas in 2009 (market 39) and then to KARE in Minneapolis (DMA 15) from 2012-2015.

In 2015, NBC News came calling, and he was a correspondent based in Chicago from 2015 to 2019.

He then took an anchor gig at WTTG, the Fox owned station in Washington, D.C. (market 7) in 2019, getting promoted shortly after and was anchoring at 4, 6:30, 8 and 9 p.m.

It’s not that uncommon for network correspondents and anchors to go to work for local TV affiliates. They often work in major markets, but sometimes even smaller ones are able to attract former network talent.

That all changed Feb. 23, 2021, when he posted a tweet opining that he was annoyed that obese people would likely be higher on the COVID-19 vaccine priority list.

He stopped appearing on air and the station confirmed to People that he was suspended “pending further review.”

He then posted an apology and deleted the offending tweet, but later came under fire again for what some saw as a brush off for tweeting “who has the time to argue with strangers on the internet” in a reply to a critic.

McCoy also came under fire for posting about dating during a pandemic — behavior that many called out for being against social distancing and safety best practices.

If all that wasn’t bad enough, things took yet another interesting turn.

On March 5, 2021, a video briefly appeared on his Instagram Stories, purportedly a short but graphic clip of him engaged in sexual activity.

It was quickly deleted and his account later featured a message suggesting someone else was in possession of his device and posted it — though many didn’t buy the excuse.

McCoy is a fitness buff and sometimes posted shirtless or workout photos on his social media — though it appears all of his mainstream public social accounts have since been deleted.

Also deleted is his bio from the WTTG Fox 5 News website, though is status at the station is not clear.

That said, after posting a tweet that many viewed as “fat shaming” and perhaps pushing his own views a bit too far, followed by the alleged sex clip, it may simply be too much for McCoy to recover and return to WTTG.

If the content was indeed posted by him, whether on purpose or not, it could easily be in violation of his contract with the station. Though it is not clear what McCoy’s deal calls for, many news anchors and reporters have clauses in their contracts that allow them to be terminated for behavior, whether at work or not, that embarrasses the station or goes against the moral standards of the community.

These twisted series of events could also have a profound effect on McCoy’s ability to continue in a career in TV news. While it’s always possible he could find work at another station, it’s may not be likely, especially in the near future.