Allegations of Racism Cause a Stir at ABC News
by EG
Allegations have surfaced this week against a high-ranking ABC News executive. Barbara Fedida is being accused of making racist comments about black talent in the network's news division. The accusations are not new--Fedida has been the subject of numerous complaints over the years--but in the current climate, the network seems to be newly motivated to take action. Read on for details.
Via People.
Sunny Hostin is deeply "disappointed and saddened" by the racist comments that were allegedly made about her by an ABC News executive.
Over the weekend, Huffington Post published a report that claimed Barbara Fedida, who is senior vice president, talent and business at the network, had made insensitive and racist comments about Hostin and other on-air talent, including Good Morning America's Robin Roberts.
ABC News has since placed Fedida on administrative leave as the network conducts an independent investigation. Fedida issued a statement through her attorney calling the allegations “incredibly misleading.”
During Monday's episode of The View, Hostin and her co-hosts addressed the report.
"We want to address a Huffington Post article from this weekend about ABC News Senior Vice President of Talent and Business Affairs, Barbara Fedida," began Whoopi Goldberg. "The article cited unnamed sources claiming that Fedida made racist and derogatory comments about several members of staff."
After learning about the alleged comments, Hostin said she was "hurt."
"It was a tough weekend for me and I was really disappointed and saddened and hurt when I learned about the racist comments that were made allegedly about me, my colleagues and my dear friends," began Hostin, 51.
"Because if true, to reference Robin Roberts, who is one of the most respected and beloved journalists in our country, as picking cotton. To reference me, someone who's been very open about having grown up in public housing, as being low rent," said Hostin. (PEOPLE is out to Good Morning America for comment.)
"To reference Kendis Gibson, who was my office mate at ABC and now is an MSNBC anchor, to say that he isn't worth paying as much as ABC would pay for toilet paper. The fact that Mara Schiavocampo, who is a friend and a former colleague at ABC, the fact that she has an NDA in place and can't talk about her experiences at ABC tells me that systemic racism touches everything and everyone in our society, regardless of social stature," continued Hostin. "No one is immune."
Here’s the deal..
— kendis (@kendisgibson) June 13, 2020
I really enjoyed the show & people I worked with at @ABC. I look back at my time there fondly. I’m still surprised and disappointed by the reported remarks made about me by an exec there, if true. My hope is, and always has been, for a more diverse industry. https://t.co/2Z4g64pO6v
In a tweet on Saturday, Gibson, who is now an anchor at MSNBC, said: "I really enjoyed the show & people I worked with at @ABC. I look back at my time there fondly. I’m still surprised and disappointed by the reported remarks made about me by an exec there, if true. My hope is, and always has been, for a more perse industry."
When reached by phone by the Huffington Post, Schiavocampo declined to comment.
She went on to say, "it's the type of racism that black people deal with every single day and it has to stop. And I look forward to the results of what I hear is going to be an independent external investigation."
Get the rest of the story at People.
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