Jennifer Livingston: Commenting on anchor’s weight is not bullying (+video)
(Read article summary)Jennifer Livingston, a TV news anchor, got a viewer e-mail calling her obese, and questioning her body image. She called it bullying. It's not. It's simply rude, and an example of 'bully-creep' and the fight over the label rather than the content.
Watch out, there’s another bully out there getting national attention.
Not just a bully, but a body image bully, who has turned his bullying ways on Jennifer Livingston, a morning anchor with WKBT-TV in La Crosse, Wis.
And Ms. Livingston is not going to take it.
That’s the story, at least, that’s making the rounds today, a day after Livingston, who admits to being overweight, responded on air to a letter she received from a viewer named Kenneth W. Krause.
"I was surprised indeed to witness that your physical condition hasn't improved for many years,” Livingston quoted Krause’s correspondence as saying. “Surely you don't consider yourself a suitable example for this community's young people, girls in particular."
"Obesity is one of the worst choices a person can make and one of the most dangerous habits to maintain. I leave you this note hoping that you'll reconsider your responsibility as a local public personality to present and promote a healthy lifestyle."
(Oh no, he didn’t say that did he?)
And in October, National Anti-Bullying Month, no less!
