A meteorologist at the Los Angeles news station KTLA was asked to put on a sweater during a live segment because no one in all of the United States has ever seen a woman wear a black dress with straps. In related news, shoulders and arms are now banned in the state of California.
In the middle of a routine weather report on May 14, KTLA’s Liberté Chan was asked by an off-screen anchor to cover her upper body. The interruption was followed immediately by said anchor handing her a gray sweater from backstage.
While Chan ultimately took the sweater, she had a few words for her colleagues.
“You want me to put this on?” Chan asked. “Why? Because it’s cold?”
“We’re getting a lot of emails,” responded her co-worker.
After donning the sweater, Chan unhappily commented that she “looked like a librarian.”
The reply? “That works! It’s a librarian that’s gone to a cocktail party.”
Follwoing the broadcast, the Internet expressed my rage better than I can, so unleash the #sweatergate!
After the on-air admixture of noxious sexism, Chan tweeted a video of her dancing in the sweater-less ensemble accompanied this truism: “Even if it’s early in the AM, [you] can’t beat a black beaded dress.”
Chan also posted a video to Facebook which featured another anchor reading a sampling of emails and comments the station received in response to her outfit, so if you would like to pique your anger and frustration regarding double standards and gender, you can do so below.
Excuse you, but Chan—who studied at the Sorbonne and has multiple degrees—can wear whatever she damn well pleases. Scratch that: any woman can wear whatever she damn well pleases. DONE.
Contact the author at jamie.reich@jezebel.com.
Image via Getty.