Weather presenter Liberte Chan handed cardigan to wear on air after viewers complain about her dress
'In the history of news. has a man ever been asked to change clothes - ON AIR - because viewers were unhappy with what he was wearing,' asks one viewer
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A weather presenter’s live broadcast was interrupted by a colleague handing her a cardigan after viewers complained about the dress she was wearing.
Liberté Chan, a meteorologist and presenter for Los Angeles based local news station KTLA, was informing viewers of the prospective Californian weather for the weekend on Saturday morning when an arm appeared passing her a grey cardigan.
“You want me to put this on?” she asked. “Why? Because it’s cold?”
“We’re getting a lot of emails,” replied an off-camera male voice to which Ms Chan exclaimed: “What, really?”
Ms Chan and her colleague later posted a video to Facebook where they read through several of the emails from apparently appalled viewers.
“I’m a regular watcher of KTLA news but Liberte Chan’s dress is totally inappropriate, it looks like she didn’t make it home from her cocktail party last night,” said one while another said the outfit choice was a “display of very poor judgement”.
Despite the apparent slew of negative emails, the clip soon went viral sparking a discussion about sexism in the workplace. Many viewers criticised the network on social media for the way the incident was handled and the double standards women on television face.
Since the incident did the rounds of the internet, Ms Chan wrote a blog post defending KTLA, claiming she was not ordered to put the sweater on by producers and was just “playing along with my co-anchor’s joke”.
Ms Chan was also keen for the conversation surrounding what she was wearing not to ultimately overshadow the job she was there to do, writing optimistically: “More importantly, I hope my viewers were able to plan their Saturday once they heard my forecast and enjoyed the sunny weather after the clouds cleared,” she wrote.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments