Pittsburgh TV station fires employee for 'Known Cheater' Brady graphic

A Pittsburgh TV station employee paid a heavy price for taking a high-profile shot at Tom Brady.

Pittsburgh's CBS affiliate fired the employee responsible for identifying the New England Patriots' star quarterback as a "known cheater" in a graphic displayed Monday during KDKA-TV's 4 o'clock news program, a spokesman told Dan Gartland of Sports Illustrated. CBS is the broadcaster for Super Bowl LIII.

"While fans are entitled to have personal opinions, we have a journalistic responsibility to provide unbiased reporting," KDKA said in a statement. "The graphic that appeared Monday violated our news standards. The individual who created the graphic no longer works for KDKA-TV."

The NFL suspended Brady for the first four games of the 2016 season for his role in Deflategate, and the Patriots as a whole have a history of walking the line between competitive and illegal conduct; their videotaping from the sideline of other teams' play-call signals from 2002–07 is the most infamous example.