Joe Pequeno, a sportscaster for Channels 3 and 5, has left the stations amid reports that he liked nearly 2,000 anti-Muslim tweets on Twitter over three years.

“Joe Pequeno is stepping aside from Arizona's Family,” Kara Kelly, corporate communications manager for Meredith Corp., which owns the stations, said in a statement Wednesday. “He has decided to pursue a new career opportunity. We thank him for his service and wish him well.”

Kelly declined to say whether Pequeno’s exit was related to liking the tweets.

According to a story in the Athletic, over Memorial Day weekend Pequeno deleted nearly 2,000 “likes” of tweets with anti-Muslim messages, such as, “A radical Muslim wants to behead you. A moderate Muslim wants a radical Muslim to behead you."

Another says, “We need to adopt laws like Japan. No mosques. No islaimic property ownership. No citizenship” and “If a Muslim makes me uncomfortable, it doesn’t end well for them!”

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The Athletic story says Meredith Corp. began investigating Pequeno’s likes of the tweets. As of Wednesday, Pequeno had deleted his Twitter account, @JoePequenoTV.

Pequeno could not be reached for comment. In theAthletic story, he said that his account had been hacked.

Reach Goodykoontz at bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. Twitter: @goodyk.

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