Meteorologist Fired for Responding to ‘Racist’ Facebook Post
Social media can land employees in a heap of trouble, and meteorologist Rhonda A. Lee found that truth out firsthand. Ms. Lee lost her job at KTBS-TV, an ABC affiliate in Shreveport, La. when she responded to a Facebook post criticizing her short afro.
The post read as follows via Journal-isms:
On Oct. 1, a viewer identified as Emmitt Vascocu wrote, “the black lady that does the news is a very nice lady.the only thing is she needs to wear a wig or grow some more hair. im not sure if she is a cancer patient. but still its not something myself that i think looks good on tv. what about letting someone a male have waist long hair do the news.what about that (cq).”
Lee replied the same day, “Hello Emmitt–I am the ‘black lady’ to which you are referring. I’m sorry you don’t like my ethnic hair. And no I don’t have cancer. I’m a non-smoking, 5’3, 121 lbs, 25 mile a week running, 37.5 year old woman, and I’m in perfectly healthy physical condition.
“I am very proud of my African-American ancestry which includes my hair. For your edification: traditionally our hair doesn’t grow downward. It grows upward. Many Black women use strong straightening agents in order to achieve a more European grade of hair and that is their choice. However in my case I don’t find it necessary. I’m very proud of who I am and the standard of beauty I display. Women come in all shapes, sizes, nationalities, and levels of beauty. Showing little girls that being comfortable in the skin and HAIR God gave me is my contribution to society. Little girls (and boys for that matter) need to see that what you look like isn’t a reason to not achieve their goals.
“Conforming to one standard isn’t what being American is about and I hope you can embrace that.
“Thank you for your comment and have a great weekend and thank for watching.”
Vascocu replied that Lee was right to be proud of who she is and that he is not a racist, but “. . . this world has . . . certain standerd (cq). if youve come from a world of being poor are you going to dress in rags?. . .”
Though Lee’s response seems professional and mature given the nature of Vascocu’s criticism, she was reprimanded by her employer and subsequently fired. It’s even more puzzling that KTBS-TV could not reference a documented rule that Ms. Lee was in violation of: “I had a meeting with my ND [news director] and GM [general manager] Friday trying to get my job back,” Lee said. “They told me the policy I violated isn’t written down, but was mentioned in a newsroom meeting about a month-and-a-half prior. A meeting I didn’t attend. So when I asked what rule did I break there isn’t anything to point to.”
Lee cites racism as the impetus behind her firing, and says she’s experienced it regularly since becoming a meteorologist as “weather is [a] white boy business.” Be that as it may, she shouldn’t have to fight off racist attacks from viewers, and certainly not from her employer.
I didn’t see anything wrong or racist about the viewers remarks regarding Ms. Lee’s hair. Just very opinionated but not hateful or wrong. Nor did I see anything wrong with Ms Lee’s response. Very much polite and to the point and it pretty well answered all the viewers concerns. There has to be more to this firing than just this. Channel 3, you’re not looking very good here. The thing that makes the least sense in this matter is your explanation of events.
Mr. Emmitt’s comment was of pure ignorance and was very insensitive. It simply showed his stupidity and immaturity of who he is and how he thinks. KTBS’ firing is unjustified and only feeds the ignorance that Mr. Emmitt and others that are polluting and infecting this society with.
It really bothers me that the network can get away with firing her, she should sue them for enough to put them out of business. She was completely right for what she did.
If this is not corrected then what is all this freedom talk about? If she doesn’t take them to court someone should. America……wake up, there is more than one view of this country. White only is not it anymore, all are included now!
Wow, I went on his page and he is a typical ignorant hick IMO. Looks like my four year old cousin could teach him a few lessons in spelling and grammar.
I haven’t a facebook account (cancelled mine), so I’m going by what was published here. I don’t think his comment was racist. He said she was a nice lady, and assumed that she might be a cancer patient. I have the impression that because the newscaster didn’t like the comment, she took it as racist and aswered based on that on a “preachy” long answer in a scolding tone to one of her viewers. That is probably something the TV channel didn’t appreciate. It’s not the first time that people have been warned about facebook posts.