A Hartford media company is under fire after a video full of profanity and sexual references was posted on its website.
The Back 9 Network was given $5,000,000 worth of loans to start up in Downtown Hartford last year by the state and is supposed to be geared towards the sport of golf, but the video has nothing to with sports.
The video is for the network’s show called “What She Said.” The host answers viewer questions about their personal issues and her responses are vulgar.
Most are too explicit to share and taxpayers are sounding off because state money was used to help start the business.
“It’s inappropriate; there's no way taxpayers should be funding that," said Julia Rivera.
The President of the Back 9 Network, Carlos Silva, wasn’t pleased either. He pulled the video from the website, and told NBC Connecticut, managers did not approve it and he disciplined the workers involved.
In a statement he said, "We are evaluating our internal approval process to ensure this does not happen again and apologize to those who viewed it and were offended by it.”
“They need to do something that's racy that will go viral that will get people talking,” said Richard Hanley, a media professor at Quinnipiac University.
Hanley said the video was not uncommon for startup media companies to post. The goal was to get viewers.
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“This is the way a lot of online companies do it. If they go viral the state can get a return on the investment,” Hanley explained.
The state agency that helped fund the network said the content of the video was inappropriate and offensive, and was glad the company apologized.
