Radio host fired for mocking VC Kamala Harris’ clothing
A talk show presenter alleges she was fired from a Washington, D.C. radio station after mocking Vice President Kamala Harris’ clothing during the State of the Union address last month.
She also contributes to the conservative publication The Spectator, where she detailed the incident.
Amber Athey, a conservative host at news station WMAL who works on a morning show, joked about the color of Harris’ suit.
‘Kamala looks like a UPS employee — what can brown do for you? Nothing good, apparently,’ Athey wrote in the March 1 tweet, referring to an old UPS tagline.
Kamala looks like a UPS employee — what can brown do for you? Nothing good, apparently.
— Amber Athey (@amber_athey) March 2, 2022
She said there was no indication that the snarky remark had offended anyone until a few days later.
‘I spoke critically of protests in favor of ‘trans kids’ at the University of North Texas. A group of maniacal left-wing activists who want to chemically castrate children in the name of ‘gender affirmation’ came after me.
All of a sudden, the Kamala tweet was being re-framed as racist and dozens of Twitter accounts were bragging about contacting my employers about my “bigotry,”‘ Athey explained in a column for the publication.
Her superiors at the radio station and the magazine also received emails requesting that Athey be fired.
While her magazine supervisors laughed it off and deleted the emails, her superiors at the station where she had worked part-time for the previous seven months were less lenient.
‘I received a call out of the blue from Jeff Boden, the vice president of Cumulus Washington, D.C, and Kriston Fancellas, the vice president of Human Resources.
‘They told me that the tweet I sent about Kamala was ‘racist’ and that subsequent follow-ups defending myself and making fun of the efforts to cancel me were unacceptable. I had violated the company’s social media policy, they said, and I was terminated effective immediately,’ Athey wrote.
‘They did not have the courtesy to offer me an opportunity to defend myself, nor did they speak to anyone at the program before handing down their decision.’
Over the past two weeks, I have received a lot of questions about why I haven't been on @WMALDC.
— Amber Athey (@amber_athey) April 4, 2022
I was not sick or on vacation. @WMALDC @CumulusMedia fired me for making a "racist" joke about Kamala Harris's SOTU outfit. https://t.co/kOV9mTLqIA
In her piece, Athey mentions that she is familiar with cancel culture, albeit she prefers the term ‘censorship.’
.@wmaldc @CumulusMedia are doing damage control & have removed my image from their social media and show website. Doesn’t change that what they did to me was wrong and unjust.
— Amber Athey (@amber_athey) April 4, 2022
Anyway, excited to be on @Timcast tonight.
Thanks to everyone for your support. It’s been amazing.
She recalls being reported for ‘creating a dangerous atmosphere’ at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., because she was a conservative on a liberal college campus.
Other students urged that the school cancel events that she was holding through College Republicans on many occasions.Some called for her degree to be canceled at one time, she claims.