Liberté Chan, a meteorologist was handed a sweater while delivering a weather report on KTLA after multiple viewers complained that the dress she was wearing was inappropriate for the Saturday morning broadcast.
“What’s going on?” Chan asked to an offscreen anchor who was holding up a gray cardigan during her 8:20 a.m. report. “You want me to put this on? Why? ’Cause it’s cold?”
“We were getting a lot of emails,” an unidentified male voice replied.
Chan reluctantly obliged.
The video from @KTLA. They handed her a sweater LIVE ON THE AIR because they were "getting a lot of emails." #KTLA pic.twitter.com/ADPb0poVDS
— Megan McGrath (@meg_mcgrath) May 14, 2016
Ummm @KTLA just told this woman to put on a sweater LIVE ON AIR bc they "are getting a lot of emails". ??? #icant pic.twitter.com/8YCIu4PFJ7
— Megan McGrath (@meg_mcgrath) May 14, 2016
“I look like a librarian now,” she said before finishing the forecast.
Chan had originally planned to wear a different dress, but explained to Twitter followers that it did not work against the greenscreen that weather reporters stand in front of while delivering their forecast. She even previewed her dress in a tweet before the newscast.
Even if it's early in the AM, can't beat a black beaded dress @KTLAMorningNews @AidanMattox @PistolandStamen pic.twitter.com/HYy1KUMYH1
— Liberté Chan (@libertechan) May 14, 2016
“Even if it’s early in the AM, can’t beat a black beaded dress,” she tweeted.
It’s unclear who decided to urge Chan to cover up while live on the air. The network did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
But in a video later posted to her Facebook page, Chan and her colleagues read some of the emails complaining about sartorial choice.
“Liberté Chan’s dress is totally inappropriate for a Saturday morning newscast,” one email read. “Looks like she didn’t make it home from her cocktail party last night.”
“No doubt about it,” wrote another. “Liberté Chan’s New Year’s Eve cocktail dress was inappropriate. That would’ve been true even if it was a 10 p.m. broadcast. Overall, this was a display of very poor judgment.”
But some of those same viewers who didn’t think the dress was appropriate also thought KTLA should’ve handled things differently.
“The show’s producers should not have allowed her to do it in a cocktail dress,” another viewer wrote. “Handing her the sweater during her report was also in poor taste. Should have given it to her afterwards. All in all, poorly done all around.
“I don’t know what to tell ya,” she said in the Facebook video. “It’s a black dress. I’m sorry if I was inappropriate.”
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