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A meteorologist from Louisiana has been fired after she responded to a Facebook posting on her station’s Facebook page, which the station says was a violation of their policy on harsh viewer comments. Here’s what the viewer 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”
Read what Rhonda replied which got her fired and has her filing a discrimination lawsuit against the station – who says another white male employee was fired at the same time for doing something similar – after the jump.
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.
{ 23 comments… read them below or add one }
She should have ended the letter like this:
“Thank you for your comment and have a great weekend and thanks for watching,
NIGGA!”
ahahah yep.
I woulda fired her ass too. All that was unnecessary. If you’re that comfortable, you wouldn’t feel the need to respond to him. And it wasn’t just one comment, it was multiple comments. Do yo job and let viewers have an opinion.
#STFU!
I agree
ur fuckin retarded if u think she shld have fired
atleast she had responded correctly.. she just shouldn’t have responded on her jobs page.. lol i would have spammed her ass to death!!!
Go head “black lady” I loved your response. Thanks for explaining our hair to those who dont understand.
‘atleast she had responded correctly’
- you need to be fired from life for that damn grammar. shame
2 things:
1. she shouldn’t have responded to the comment at all.
2. that said, her response is sensible and even-handed. it wasn’t worth firing her over.
it looks like this should be an easy win in terms of her lawsuit. but the lesson for her and most media professionals is this: you can’t be fired for the post that you never make.
Ain’t that some bullshit
Damn! It’s hard being black!
I would have never been able to respond so politely.
All she said was that she didn’t have cancer and that that is how our hair grows. Eloquently!!
I see no problem with what she did at all.
The new racism is ‘don’t even talk about it’.
LMAO! Is this really an example of how hard it is being black? If you read the article, it’s clearly against company policy to respond to comments on the Facebook page.
This is an example of how hard it is to follow policy at most.
For arguments sake Lets agree she broke company policy(would have to be more than once to justify her being fired) and deserves to be fired, nothing inside of you says “hey, maybe her hair shouldn’t matter and the viewer was out of pocket for his comment”? No? If not, you’re colder than penguin pussy
well she could have ignored the comment but then i reali dont see anything wrong in what she said, she is just bin human that all
Only in AMERICA!! 2012 and nothing is Changed at some point people will have no choice but to WAKE up to what it means to being human on PLANET earth you will have no choice but to ACCEPT that people come in various shapes and form and aint nothing you can do to ever change that!
Id sue 100%!
She did the right thing, put the viewer stupid unintelligent ass in check, intelligently. She can always get another gig… A much better one at that!
An (ahem) over-weight newscaster lady can respond to viewers (ON AIR) who called her fat and she’s called heroic and a role model. A black woman responds to a viewer (OFF AIR) regarding disparaging remarks about how unseemly her hair is and she’s fired. The fuck is that about?!?
come on it’s fucking hair. i’m sick of reading all this race bs, he said black lady, and? she’s prolly the only black broad on the damn chan, he was just being descriptive. & how did this spin into a black power thing when in all reality it stemmed from the fact that she’s a bald headed hoe? lets be real folks. colored or non colored (:
btw why are people still using ‘african american’ – dead that ignorant shit.
Dang.. its hard being black in America… :\
This is Exactly what my program tries to teach young women of color. She could have easily had that man take her to a real ugly place, but instead, she politely reaffirmed her statement on her beauty, and just provided knowledge on African American hair and beauty. I thought she was VERY PC with her comment. Definitely not grounds for termination…Honey, shes about to get PAID.
understandably she should not have responded. There will always be critics and as it is in her company policy, then she should not have responded. But I don’t believe anything she said warrants being fired for. She did not say anything harsh or negative. She said everything very politely and politically correct. She could have been disciplined in a different area, but to be fired is a bit much. Most jobs I know give you a warning or some disciplinary action that does not include firing. And if the problem persists then termination occurs. I would sue and though the company has money. She will probably win. With that being said, I personally don’t like her hair bald. It has nothing to do with her skni color. I have had my hair short. My mother’s hair is almost her length. I don’t mind it. I just don’t find it appealing on her. Someone else with a different face shape could rock that, IMO. I would feel that way probably if she was a white woman. I like hair on women. Not only that, most people have been conditioned to see a woman with medium to long length hair on their head when on TV or in magazines. Nice that she feels confident enough to wear it, but I don’t like it on her. But given that, the company probably needed a reason to let her go anyway. I doubt any of the producers were happy with her hair choice.