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Meteorologist Rhonda Lee fails to disclose knowledge of viewer’s mental illness in hair debate

| December 25, 2012
rhonda lee emmitt vascocu 01 Meteorologist Rhonda Lee fails to disclose knowledge of viewers mental illness in hair debate

Meteorologist Rhonda Lee and mentally ill KTBS viewer Emmitt Vascocu.

On December 20, former KXAN meteorologist Rhonda Lee alerted her Facebook supporters that she had arrived in Chicago for a taping of the Steve Harvey Show:

Headed to Chicago for feature interview on the Steve Harvey Show tomorrow ! Very excited

It was one of countless TV, radio and internet interviews Lee has done since she was fired from KTBS in Shreveport, Louisiana for violating the station’s social media policy. Lee took a job with the station in January after Austin’s KXAN cut her loose last year.

But if you watch, listen or read CNN, MSNBC, and various other news organizations, you would get the impression that Lee was fired because of her short hair.

CNN’s headline on December 12, 2012:

Fired for defending her hairstyle on Facebook; Ex-KTBS meteorologist Rhonda Lee: ‘Other people are given platforms, I was given a pink slip’ - 

The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) has jumped into the fray and offered this, based only on the published reports of others:

What happened to Lee is disturbing. Although the nation continues to become more diverse, biases based on race, ethnicity, gender and culture persist in newsrooms.

Rhonda Lee meteorologist 264x300 Meteorologist Rhonda Lee fails to disclose knowledge of viewers mental illness in hair debate

Rhonda Lee’s KXAN promotional photograph.

According to KTBS, Lee’s dismissal had nothing to do with her hair or race. KTBS warned Lee to stop confronting viewers who made questionable comments on the station’s Facebook page, but she did it anyway.

Prior to that, she says she alerted station management to the racial comments and that they did nothing about it, leaving two posts on the station’s Facebook page intact.

Whether she was justified in responding to the two viewers is sure to be hashed out by lawyers. 

“I’m exploring my options,” Lee told CNN contributor and blogger Roland Martin.

Lee also received an August 31 email directive from station management, telling her and other employees not to respond to negative comments on Facebook and social media. Lee told Roland Martin she never saw it.

The second time Lee took on a viewer who posted a racially charged comment (using Buckwheat as a profile picture), KTBS showed her the door.

The meteorologist had just chalked up her second job dismissal in 11 months. Austin’s KXAN fired her  in December 2011. She turned around and sued the TV station for racial discrimination. That case is ongoing.

Lee told the Maynord Institute’s Journal-isms:

Race has been the issue with me since I started. That much is VERY true. Weather is an older white boy business and arms have been less than open for a young black girl — a polar opposite. As reported I’ve had more problems here in the south than I have anywhere else in my 25+ years in the business. Perhaps there is a pattern, but I am a glutton for punishment (ha, ha), and I want what I deserve as any professional would so if I have to fight for it I will.

If the quote is accurate, Lee, who gives her age as 37, started out forecasting weather on local TV news when she was 12.

The quote went unchallenged by the journalism trade website.

Lee’s discrimination claims in Austin are all rooted in her hair. She also claimed in interviews that she had the same race and hair problems in Sacramento. However, at the Austin and Shreveport TV stations, Lee’s short hair was roughly the same length on the day she was hired as the day she was fired.

Using her deft social and media skills, Lee hired a publicist from Portland, Oregon and mounted an impressive public relations campaign against the Shreveport station. With the help of CNN and others, Lee completely changed the facts and the narrative. A lazy news media has been sopping it up ever since.

rhonda lee 300x168 Meteorologist Rhonda Lee fails to disclose knowledge of viewers mental illness in hair debate

Meteorologist Rhonda Lee appearing CNN to talk about her firing.

Rhonda Lee has not been telling the whole truth. Apparently no one at CNN or any other news organization has bothered to look beyond anything other than what Lee has told them. If they did, they aren’t reporting it.

The most glaring fact that Lee has not disclosed changes the entire narrative of this being a story about an attractive black woman fired for standing up for her black heritage and hairstyle.

Lee launched her media crusade by humiliating and assaulting the character of Emmitt Vascocu, a 57-year-old white KTBS viewer, whom she knew full well was mentally ill.

Lee had known it for two months before she was fired and subsequently interviewed by CNN’s Soledad O’Brien on her morning show called Starting Point.

“Hi Emmitt. Thank you for the heartfelt response. I’m very sorry to hear about your Alzheimer disease,” Lee wrote to Vascocu on October 7 in a private message on Facebook.

But evidently, Lee’s sympathy evaporated after she was fired by KTBS on November 28. She brought out the long knives for Emmitt Vascocu.

“I don’t know why she is doing this to me and my family. I apologized and told her I wasn’t racist. Maybe she wants ratings,” said Vascocu.

He added, “I’ve had my life threatened and I’m too weak to protect myself. Life isn’t worth living anymore.”

In addition to Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, Vascocu, suffered severe brain damage to his temporal lobe in a car accident four years ago, which has impaired his ability to express emotion and communicate.  He is also afflicted by Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, diabetes and was hospitalized last year for a stroke.

To top it off, Vascocu has been bi-polar since birth.

rhondalee emmitt vascocu 300x297 Meteorologist Rhonda Lee fails to disclose knowledge of viewers mental illness in hair debate

Emmitt Vascocu and Rhonda Lee’s private exchange on October 7, 2012. Lee never disclosed to the news media that she new the KTBS viewer was mentally ill.

It’s hard to believe that one man could be so unfortunate and endure so many ailments and still be alive. But it was all spelled out in a 17 page medical report that was voluntarily sent to The Digital Texan by Vascocu and his family.  It’s signed by his Shreveport neurologist:

“We are working diligently to control his (Vascocu) conditions so that he can live the most productive life possible.”

To say he is mentally ill is an understatement. He is a helpless and broken man, incapable of defending himself, especially from someone as sophisticated as Lee or as powerful as CNN and other national media organizations.

“He was clearly uneducated and I was happy to shine a little light in his dark little world,” Lee laughed on December 11, while answering a question by a man named Tommy Sotomayor, a controversial figure known more for disparaging black women than helping them.

That comment was a far cry from the private message she sent Vascocu two months earlier. “Hi Emmitt. Thank you for the heartfelt response.”

Sotomayor had no idea Vascocu was mentally ill, but he dined well off the chunk of red meat Lee tossed his way.

He and Lee painted Vascocu as a stereotypical white racist.  But it gets worse.

Pages: 1 2 3 4

About Jack Hambrick

Publisher and Editor-in-Chief, The Digital Texan
Jack is Editor-in-Chief at The Digital Texan and writes about news, gossip and lifestyles in Austin. He's a former television reporter with KPRC TV Houston, WFTV TV Orlando, WFOR TV Miami, and WSFL TV /Sun-Sentinel Fort Lauderdale.
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  • roadgeek

    Excellent report. Keep up the good work, Jack.

  • emmitt vascocu

    Thank you sir. maybe a few people can understand I meant no harm .emmitt v.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001013657148 Mike Ohlhausen

    Disregarding the exchange between Mrs. Lee and Mr. Vascocu, the Station seems to have been wrong in firing Mrs. Lee. Or at least that is the perception I have. Her actions since being fired seems to be what you are taking offense to. Am I correct? or did she attack Mr Vascocu before she was fired? It seems from the private messages (pre-firing) that she was somewhat understanding, or at least trying to be. For the station to fire her for saying she was proud of her heritage, and appearance seems… off. But then, maybe I am. I had a grandfather that had Alzheimers, he would never have remembered enough of all this to have taken offense to it, much less to know what to appologize for. That also makes me wonder who has the story right… unless the Alzheimers is not very prevelant in Mr Vascocu’s case, in which case it should not be part of his defense. All the other medical conditions would seem to cover his initial insensitivity, and by piling on all the additional diagnoses, in his defense, makes it seem like the family should have known trouble would come of his social networking. My grandfather could not remember to dress his self, much less could he have remembered that he even had a FaceBook account, or how to opperate it. Mind you, I am not trying to belittle Mr. Vascuco, far from it. Nor am I trying to say Mrs. Lee is doing all the right things. Just that the Station, KTBS, did the wrong thing, and Mr. Vascuco’s family needs to re-think their involvement (or lack there-of) in guiding, or monitoring his daily actions.

  • http://twitter.com/CatalinaHime Catalina Hime

    This sounds like an “article” written by Emmitt Vascocu’s friend to defend his negative comment. Judging by the fact that Emmitt responded to this “article” and not to any others, it appears that way.

  • Gabriel Etienne

    I don’t see much of anyone in a tiff over Emmit’s comments. It is more about the Station and the overall handling of the situation.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jennifer-Updyke/719361489 Jennifer Updyke

    Until today I’ve never even heard of you, Mr. Hambrick, or the Digital Texan…but after this article I have the utmost respect for you. I received an email notification about a a petition in Ms. Lee’s defense…I wasn’t about to attach my name to a petition without finding out what it was all about. My initial reaction was, however, like so many others, “She has a right to defend herself and racism!”. I’m so glad I did some digging though and found your article, the most enlightening on the story I’ve seen thus far. Keep up the excellent work, I’ll continue to read what you have to say. You’re a true white knight in this particular situation.

  • http://twitter.com/RealTomHankz Noël Wells

    At no point was this about the commenter… It was about her response, and the station firing her over violating a policy that seems vague at best after failing to address the comments themselves. I feel like Rhonda does have an axe to grind… She’s tired of putting up with ignorant points of view… Something I DO NOT doubt have plagued her for years if your words and hyperbolic attacks are any indication . While the commenter was born bipolar and has suffered mentally and you believe deserves your defense because of this… despite his clearly ignorant comments in which he had the mental capacity and decency to apologize for, does Miss Lee not deserve your defense for being born into a world that wants her to comply with Caucasian beauty and in which she has decided to stand up to and thusly been punished repeatedly for? Is this BLACK WOMAN not staying in her place enough for you?

    At no point has she ever attacked or defamed the commenter’s character. The few nasty comments on his Facebook seemed to have stopped once he explained himself… So moving forward he no longer needs to be brought into this discussion. This is about the station and Miss Lee’s termination.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jennifer-Updyke/719361489 Jennifer Updyke

    Lol, I know who downvoted this, and it’s so funny. Someone I got into a debate with on Facebook over this whole mess…I linked them to this article and they called me out using the term “white knight”, by which I simply meant one who champions a worth cause and defends those who can’t defend themselves….naturally it had to be taken to a race level.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jennifer-Updyke/719361489 Jennifer Updyke

    Now you see, you’re as guilty as everyone else turning this into an issue of race, which I strongly feel it was not until people made it that way. You just implied the writer of this article is a racist sexist…on what grounds to you imply that?

    Reread the article, he has not accused her of personally or directly defaming Emmit V., he has called her out on the fact that she is clearly using all of this for person gain in a very negative way. In private she speaks to him in a way that indicates sympathy, understanding, and forgiveness…in public she says things to further the implication that she is a victim of racism and promote better ratings.

    A true advocate of peace, unity, and equality would publicly awknowledge the horrible, hateful things being said to this man by her supporters. I would beg those supporting me to not act in such a fashion as it only contradicts the platform she’s built for herself.

    And on the subject of her firing, the company was within their rights to do so based on a policy that she was indeed made aware of, whether she bothered to take heed of it or not.

  • http://www.facebook.com/memette.ws.9 Memette WS

    What ratings? She hasn’t even been hired anywhere. Furthermore, she can be polite and sympathetic to the man’s ailment, but that doesn’t mean what he said wasn’t racist. It’s still important for people to explain why it was racist because people around the world often don’t understand how black hair works. It is a wooly kind of hair that lacks a layer of keratin that most other races have, and it is very different from any other ethnic group. Onlookers who saw the comment needed to understand WHY what Mr. Vascocu was racist– especially since KTBS wouldn’t remove the comment, and left it for the whole world to see. KTBS left Lee in a position where she needed to defend herself and her people, especially after KTBS endorsed such ignorance– and they had no “dementia” excuse to do something so ignorant.

    Black people often can’t grow their hair very long for genetic reasons, no matter how well taken care of it is. So shaven short hairstyles is one of the options they utilize to wear their hair naturally without chemicals that straighten and burn the skin. Therefore, it was an ethnic hairstyle, and Vascocu’s racist implication that her ethnic hairstyle needed to be fixed by a wig. Just because he didn’t mean any harm by the comment didn’t mean it wasn’t racist. That’s like saying when white people compliment a black person for “speaking so well”, that it isn’t racist despite the good intentions.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_IDBHRNX3BSE2SK547W3NB4SESY Alice

    What a strange article. When I heard and read the initial flurry of reports, I’d fully expected there remained some unknown, relevant details to the story of this woman’s termination, and I suspect that’s still true. But I also have to note that it’s remarkable to read a piece criticizing the journalism of others – including criticisms that seem entirely valid – while at the same time the piece itself is riddled with a lack of professionalism and examples of poor journalism.

    Let’s start with the fact that this piece is probably three times the length it should be. But aside from being packed with repetition, several examples of editorializing, speculation and unfounded conclusions are found throughout. For example, consider just part of one paragraph -

    “…Lee was also ignorant of the fact that Vascocu was very familiar with
    black women’s hair long before Rhonda Lee and Facebook came along. …Her name was Mary Lou Edwards, known to the Vascocu family as “Ms.
    Jeannie.” [Vascocu]… no doubt, caressed her face and hair many times as a child. …”

    While I understand Lee did not cooperate with this report, did she answer just enough questions off the record to reveal she did not know of “”Ms. Jeannie?” The article definitively states Lee did not know about this woman? So, what’s that statement of fact premised upon? Perhaps Vascocu says he didn’t tell her, but is that reliable given the “17 PAGES!” of documentation with regard to his mental processes? Or perhaps she knew of Ms. Jeannie by some other means?

    Vascocu “…no doubt, caressed her face and hair many times?”

    Really? No doubt? Where’s the foundation for that statement of fact?

    I read three times that the medical reports and a statement from a neurologist consumed 17 pages. I saw no mention anywhere of the “reporter” having spoken to the doctor personally, and of having confirmed the alleged doctor’s credentials. Is that in this instance wildly unlike CNN failing to contact Vascocu? I sure don’t think so, but I concede that’s simply my opinion.

    There are almost countless other examples throughout this 4 page article, some significant, and others petty – if nonetheless legitimate. Cumulatively, I can’t help but conclude this article was written with every bit as much to serve a personal and/or ideological goal beyond the implicit effort to condemn poor journalistic practices.

    And finally, whatever the agenda, I hope Mr. Hambrick will heed the advice of literally every editor I’ve worked with in 30 years. To paraphrase: “EVERY writer needs an editor, and editors who try editing their own work need editors more than ANY writer.”

  • http://www.facebook.com/memette.ws.9 Memette WS

    They touched on this story before and closed the comments, likely because they were getting flamed to high heaven (which they were). They had no proof that Lee knew about the man’s disability and sent people to attack him. Nobody but a few people who WANTED Digital Texan’s story to be true, listened to this tale. That should tell you something.

  • Mike Iverson

    Hambrick writes about the “lazy news media” and then gives us an example of this “lazy” journalism by inserting this unsupported comment in his article:

    “KTBS warned Lee to stop confronting viewers who made questionable comments on the station’s Facebook page, but she did it anyway.”

    Did KTBS really warn Lee BEFORE firing her? If so, Hambrick doesn’t present any evidence supporting this in his article. There was mention of an unwritten “policy” presented in a meeting, but Lee wasn’t a part of that meeting. There was also a “memo” sent via email to station personal giving general “guidelines” for addressing criticism coming through social websites, but it appears they were just that: guidelines and not policy. As both of these occurrences happened before Lee’s Facebook post, where is the “warning” (after the fact) that Hambrick refers to?

    My understanding is that there were no warnings after Lee posted to Facebook, just the firing. Unless I missed something, Hambrick’s own work falls far short of his own journalistic standard and is a part of the “lazy news media” he laments in his article.

    Lee’s response to Vascocu’s post was a thoughtful, non-argumentative piece designed to gently educate a viewer. The only real story here is the over reaction of KTBS to something that would have have been a non-issue had they just let it be…

  • http://www.facebook.com/memette.ws.9 Memette WS

    I hope this is some kind of joke. Because if it isn’t, something’s not right about you. She never asked anybody to attack you, and there’s no proof of such. But you’re “thanking” these people, condoning these people slandering her with lies. The irony is that now people are going on her facebook page to harass her.

  • http://www.facebook.com/paul.lefrak Paul Lefrak

    Since you closed out comments after so many other (mostly white) people called you out on your obvious racism after your 12/29 posting attacking Ms. Lee, I’ll add my voice here in support of her. I’m glad I signed the petition calling for her to be reinstated. She handled herself very professionally. I’m sorry you’re so filled with anti-Black racism. You sound like an “angry white man.” Perhaps you should look in the mirror, Mr. DigitalTexan, before calling others out as being racist.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jennifer-Updyke/719361489 Jennifer Updyke

    First of all, blacks are not the only people who have felt the need to do drastic things to their hair to conform to an image society impose upon us….I actually had my hair relaxed before. The hair dresser walked away and failed to pay attention and the crap was left on too long…believe me know, I know that junk burns. It hurt to wash my hair for days.

    Secondly, the man, in my opinion, did not mean to be racist. I don’t think he realized what he said sounded racist. I don’t think he realized her hair is styled the way it is for the reasons expressed. I don’t think he meant offend cancer patients. (Don’t even get me started on that topic are argue that it is, it’s a subject VERY close to home for me). What he said WAS in poor taste, but I do not feel it was meant to be racist or sexist and that it was blown entirely out of proportion.

    My issue here is that the majority of media outlets are sensationalizing this and portraying Rhonda Lee as some kind of hero and a role model to African Americans and women…but she’s not. She’s just a person. Props to her for sticking up for herself and others like her, but she seems to me to be very two faced. People are turning this into an issue of race, hatred, and sexism, when it doesn’t need to be anything of the sort.

    A woman was fired for repeatedly breaking a rule that her employer set before her….she can deny it all she wants, we’ve seen the email, it WAS sent to her. If she missed a meeting, it was her responsibility to find important information she missed. She wasn’t fired for being black, she wasn’t fired for being young, she wasn’t fired for being a woman, she wasn’t fired for her hair style, and she wasn’t fired for what she said. She was fired for violating company policy. Her employers were well within their rights to dismiss her.

    What’s truly alarming about this is the pure and utter hatred it has fostered!!! The anger and horrible things people are saying to each other over a situation centered around combating racism, sexism, and hatred is ridiculous. Using hatred to fight hatred doesn’t accomplish anything, and THAT’S my biggest problem with all of this.

    You said yourself “her people”…and that’s precisely the problem. There should be no “her people”, “your people”, “my people”. We can’t we all just be people? Together? Until that mentality fades, there will always issues like this and hatred fueled by them.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=751054899 Dwayne Lock

    I’m famous. An BTW way Jack, you claimed I left out some facts . You neglected to include any, and your skewed version of our conversation is so like that of a wanna be journalist. Feel free to contact me if you want to refresh your memory

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  • ben white…all mah life……

     dwayne who?…never heard of ya….

  • ben white…all mah life……

    ehh whatever…i’m over it…she annoyed me, anyways….15 minutes are up, rhonda….

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1564967486 Francena McGirt

    Did you not notice that your article is filled with the same racism you claim you wan to debunk? SMH

  • http://www.facebook.com/steve.kombolis.7 Steve Kombolis

    4 pages on this including and ambush “journalism” ? I scrolled through most. Nobody, including Lee, could have possibly known the extent of the man’s illnesses and I have a feeling simply believing someone is suffering from alzheimer’s doesn’t change being offended by racist comments. Thinking  a racist can’t remember how racist he is probably doesn’t mitigate much. As it turns out the man has so much going on he might simply have no idea how his words came across but nobody could have known that at the time. You strike me as someone that would comb through celebrity trashcans for a “story” You are everything that is wrong with journalism today. You simply are the other side of the coin. I personally find Lee to be an opportunist but she also didn’t do anything wrong imo. I am going to stop now as I am embarrassed for myself I even clicked on this article. I came across something that reminded me of the story and did a Google search just out of curiosity to see what happened. Some journalists aspire to interview the President. You got someone who left a mean message on FaceBook. That you are proud of it makes it all the more stunning

  • http://www.facebook.com/MuonLyte Yolanda Peniza

    The station failed to protect its employee AND allowed a mentally Ill person make a public post against a woman’s right to define HER own version of beauty! I don’t care if the writer was a leper, the station should have set up their fb account to screen all posts from the public because he had no right to post that comment and then expect the world to care about his ailments.. Don’t allow negative comments if you are going to restrict the person being put down the right to stand up for herself…..I hope that station closes down and never makes money off of anyone’s emotional pain again….LA sucks!

  • http://www.facebook.com/MuonLyte Yolanda Peniza

    And one more thing….would this be the same issue if the writer was chastising a homosexual person for choosing to be different or dress differently? I think not….we all know the answer to that would be a responding NO!….