...OR NOT

Ex-TV Anchor: I Was Fired Because I’m White

For controversial comments about black shooters.

A former TV news anchor alleges that her ex-employer would not have fired her for her controversial Facebook posts if she were black. In a federal lawsuit filed Monday, the lawyer for former WTAE-TV anchor Wendy Bell claims racial discrimination and argues for her reinstatement after her March termination. Following a mass shooting near Pittsburgh that left six people dead, Bell wrote on Facebook: “You needn’t be a criminal profiler to draw a mental sketch of the killers who broke so many hearts two weeks ago ... they are young black men, likely in their teens or early 20s.” In the same post, she also observed of a talented black restaurant employee: “I wonder how long it has been since someone told him he was special.” She was fired after the comments sparked much local controversy. “For her being the race that she is, the decision would have been very different,” her counsel argued in filing the lawsuit. “The comment was not intrinsically racially pejorative. It was interpreted to be that way.”