Her comments in this instance were flat out sexist. I imagine that a lot of the outrage stems from the "defend out brave military" pathology and if he were just "some random bloke" there might not have been so much outrage however the fact that she made the initial "joke" without having a clue about the person says a lot about her. If the genders in this situation were reversed, the offending (now male) TV host would have been fired and a pitchfork wielding mob would be following them around to try to make sure they never worked again.