White News Anchor Fired for Controversial Facebook Post Files Lawsuit Alleging She Was a Victim of Racial Discrimination

A white Pittsburgh news anchor has filed a lawsuit against her former employer alleging that she was a victim of racial discrimination after she was fired for a controversial Facebook post.

Sam Cordes, attorney for former WTAE-TV news anchor Wendy Bell, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “But for her being the race that she is, the decision would have been very different.”

“The comment was not intrinsically racially pejorative. It was interpreted to be that way,” Cordes said.

Cordes told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, “Had an African-American journalist said the same thing, it wouldn’t have generated the same quote-outcry-unquote.”

Following a shooting near the city, Bell posted 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 Wednesday. They are young black men, likely teens or in their early 20s. They have multiple siblings from multiple fathers and their mothers work multiple jobs. These boys have been in the system before. They’ve grown up there. They know the police. They’ve been arrested.

At the time of her post, law enforcement officials had yet to release names or descriptions of the suspects in the shooting.

After her comments gained attention, she was fired by the television station. Bell apologized in a subsequent Facebook post.

I now understand that some of the words I chose were insensitive and could be viewed as racist. I regret offending anyone. I’m truly sorry.

In a statement after Bell’s termination, Hearst Television, WTAE’s parent company, told the the Post-Gazette that “WTAE has ended its relationship with anchor Wendy Bell.”

“Wendy’s recent comments on a WTAE Facebook page were inconsistent with the company’s ethics and journalistic standards,” the statement said.