Black female TV anchor shares horror message from viewer she discovers to be local doctor
‘Your makeup makes you look like a whore. Do yourself a favor and clean up,’ viewer writes to TV journalist
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.Local news anchor Whitney Burney in Grand Rapids, Michigan shared with her Twitter followers an abusive email she received from a viewer.
“The kinds of emails you get when you work in news,” she tweeted on Saturday, including a screenshot of the email. “He even had the nerve to leave his cell phone, address and occupation in the email signature. And said if I’m the wrong person please forward this message. Huh?? LMAO.”
The email appeared to be from a local doctor. His contact information had been redacted in the screenshot shared on Twitter by Ms Burney.
“if (sic) you are the anchor right now on Wood tv8 (sic) this is for you. If not, and I can’t tell for sure, please disregard and forward to whomever is the anchor. Your makeup makes you look like a whore. Do yourself a favor and clean up,” the viewer wrote.
“Here’s how I looked on the desk today,” Ms Burney wrote and included a selfie.
Ms Burney’s tweet quickly went viral, garnering thousands of likes and retweets.
“Really didn’t expect this big of a response,” she added on Sunday. “I just wanted people to see how NASTY people can be unprovoked. All of my news peeps will attest, this happens all the time and that comment is LIGHT. The things people feel comfortable saying from the comfort of a keyboard, chileee…”
“When I saw MD in his signature my jaw dropped. Are you kidding me!!” she replied to one of her followers.
One Twitter user responded to Ms Burney, seemingly impersonating the local doctor, “‘Dear woman I have never met. I am aroused by the sight of you, and I have been taught to feel ashamed of myself. Therefore, you must amend your appearance to prevent me from feeling ashamed. But not too much, or I’ll write to complain about that too.’ Why are men?”
“Honestly this proves that medicine is a racist and sexist institution because why do white male physicians feel like they are untouchable and can do shit like this without consequences?” another account holder wrote on the social media platform.
“I anchored news and sports for 20 years. Never once did I get a viewer email scolding me for my hair, makeup or clothes. Yet all my female co-anchors got them weekly, even daily — from men and women,” Ed Greenberger tweeted. “So sorry, @WhitneyOnAir. Thankfully, deep down, that guy knows he’s a toolbag.”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments