In a tearful segment that aired on Oklahoma City’s KOCO-TV, morning anchor Alex Housden apologized to her co-anchor Jason Hackett after comparing him to a gorilla during a broadcast Thursday.

The racist comment occurred after the pair reported on a story about a gorilla at the Oklahoma City Zoo.

Housden ended the segment with the comment: “Kind of looks like you,” directed at Hackett.

“He kind of does, actually, yeah,” Hackett hesitantly responded.

The following day, Hackett, who is African American, accepted her apology and said he wanted to take the experience as a teachable moment to his viewers.

“The lesson here is that words matter,” he said sitting beside Housden. “We have to understand the stereotypes, we have to understand each other’s backgrounds and the words that hurt, the words that cut deep.”

Housden called the comment inconsiderate and inappropriate. She said she knows it was wrong and that she would never intentionally hurt her colleague.

“I hurt people. I want you to know I understand how much I hurt you out there and how much I hurt you,” she said tearfully turning to her co-anchor.

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The clip of Housden's comment was shared on social media where users began firing criticisms at her through her Facebook page. Housden didn’t post the apology video on her Facebook page.

The TV station told USA TODAY Tuesday that it has no additional comments.