Gay Miami news anchor Charles Perez (pictured, right) was fired yesterday, after he filed a discrimination complaint against the ABC station for demoting him to weekend anchor after a personal email was leaked to everyone on his contact list.
In the email, Charles confided to his therapist that he needed to address his “gender identity issues.” Three days after the leak, the station's VP and News Director Bill Pohovey criticized Charles for not sounding “main anchor-like.” He added that Charles came across as too soft, and that his on-air banter with co-anchor Laurie Jennings was like that of “two girlfriends," reports the Miami Herald.
Late last week, he filed a discrimination complaint with Miami-Dade's Equal Opportunity Board.
Charles says in the complaint that station bosses demoted him to weekend anchor/reporter "because of their discomfort over the increasingly high profile of my sexual orientation."
On April 3, he went to court seeking a restraining order against his former partner, Dennis Ricardo Peña (pictured, left) whom he accused of leaking the aforementioned e-mail.
News Director Pohovey said:
" "WPLG is disappointed that the actions of Charles Perez left us no real choice other than to terminate his employment contract. This is an outrageous accusation. As a gay man myself, I can safely say the Station does not discriminate against gay people. Charles' claim that the Station discriminates against gay people is untrue and offensive. In my view, Mr. Perez continued to make false and outrageous accusations in an effort to force the station to give him back his former work schedule. Like all businesses, we do not respond to intimidation and threats from employees. His false claims should offend all people -- including those of us in the gay community. It appears he is bent on waging a public relations campaign to destroy the hard earned and long standing reputation of the station as a community leader and an employer of a diverse and inclusive workforce."
Scandalous! How you Doin, Charles. Alllrrrriiiiggggght.
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2 comments:
Apparently he'd stand behind his male colleagues and say "This just in!"
Charles, you are pretty and you seem to get better with age, my question to you, why did you leave NYC when you had a posh job there?
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