LA weather reporter asked to cover up on air: workplace sexism?

MANILA, Philippines – A Los Angeles-based meteorologist, Liberté Chan, was doing the weekend weather report, but when a colleague asked her to cover up her sleeveless dress while on air, commenters stormed in with enraged remarks. They said that she had been a victim of workplace sexism.

In the middle of her report last May 14, Saturday on The CW-affiliated station, KTLA, her colleague and co-anchor, Chris Burrous, suddenly reached out from off-screen handing her a gray sweater.

 

“What’s going on?” she asked. “You want me to put this on? Why? ‘Cause it’s cold?”

“We’re getting a lot of emails,” replied Burrous. 

In a video posted on her official Facebook page, the two went over some of the emails calling her out for her outfit.

 

“Liberté Chan’s dress is totally inappropriate for the Saturday morning newscast. It looks like she didn’t make it home from her cocktail party last night,” wrote one irked viewer, who added that even the gray sweater was “also in very poor taste.”

The entire controversy was dubbed “Sweatergate,” after which, several people voiced out their support for Chan.

YouTube personality Gaby Dunn wrote, “Liberté Chan, the meteorologist in the video, has like, four degrees & is a [woman of color] working in a male dominated field and this is what it’s like.”

Liberte Chan, the meteorologist in the video, has like, four degrees & is a WOC working in a male dominated field and this is what it’s like

— GABY DUNN (@gabydunn) May 15, 2016

 

“Hi @KTLA you owe Liberte Chan an apology for the sweater incident. That was some truly tacky, misogynistic, humiliating bullsh*t,” tweeted reality television star, Julie Ofcharsky.

Hi @KTLA you owe Liberte Chan an apology for the sweater incident. That was some truly tacky, misogynistic, humiliating bullshit.

— Margot Tenenbaum (@JulieOfcharsky) May 15, 2016

 

On her personal blog, Chan addressed this: “I’ve worked on-air for 10 years and by now, I’ve learned that everyone has an opinion and you have to have a thick skin to work in this business.  It’s a visual medium and sometimes your outfit works and sometimes it doesn’t.”

She said that the sleeveless “black beaded dress” was a backup, which she wore instead of another black and white one that presented problems for shooting against a green screen background – as seen in her own previous case:

 

Chan also defended her superiors at KTLA, pointing out that she was “not ordered” to cover up.

“For the record, I was not ordered by KTLA to put on the sweater.  I was simply playing along with my co-anchor’s joke, and if you’ve ever watched the morning show, you know we poke fun at each other all the time,” Chan wrote.

“There is no controversy at KTLA,” she further clarified. “My bosses did not order me to put on the cardigan, it was a spontaneous moment…”

“I truly love my job, I like my bosses and enjoy working with my coworkers.  Since talking to my team, I want our viewers to know it was never our intention to offend anyone. We are friends on and off the air and if you watch our newscast, you know that.”

The KTLA morning anchors themselves addressed the controversy on May 16, Monday (May 17, Tuesday in Manila): “In the spirit of satirizing viewers’ complaints, Liberté was handed a sweater on the air to change the little black dress for something that isn’t… so much evening wear.”

 

“Women are talked about online. The scrutiny is intense,” said anchor Jessica Holmes. “It’s unfortunate, but it comes with the territory, and I get it.”

In the end, the reporters said that there were other worse problems to be worried about.

“It gets ridiculous. We get picked up by this guy, and all of a sudden, it’s the worst problem this country is facing. That is the problem right there,” concluded Holmes. – Rappler.com