KTLA anchor Mark Mester was fired after he nixed the script last Saturday morning to rip the network for how it handled the exit of one of his colleagues. According to Mediaite, “Veteran anchor Lynette Romero resigned after nearly 24 years with the Los Angeles-based network. She and Mester had worked together on the weekends, and he described her as his ‘best friend.'” The report goes on:

Romero left to take a job elsewhere and KTLA entertainment reporter Sam Rubin announced her departure through a short statement he read last Wednesday.

Saturday morning, Mester was emotional after he said Romero she was denied an opportunity to say goodbye to viewers. In a scathing takedown of the station, Mester said:

I want to start off right now by offering up an apology to you. What the viewers experienced was rude, it was cruel, it was inappropriate and we are so sorry. I also want to say sorry to Lynette Romero, because Lynette, I love you so much, and you really are my best friend, you did not deserve what happened to you on Wednesday.

“Lynette deserved to say goodbye, it didn’t happen, I don’t know who wrote the script, I don’t know who handed it to Sam Rubin, regardless, this was a mistake,” he added during what was essentially a four-minute monologue. “We owe you an apology, and we owe Lynette an apology.”