What the Hell Are You Talking About?

Yesterday, FTVLive posted a story in which KCPQ (Seattle) Anchor Travis Mayfield posted a tweet about going on the newscast wearing a dress.

This was the tweet:

In the story, we said that due to the fact that it is the Feb Book there is no better time than now for Mayfield to put on the dress and go on the air.

This is what we said in yesterday’s story, “Hey, it’s the Feb Book, I’m not sure there is a better time than now to pull this off.”

Mayfield went on Twitter after the story was posted and said this:

Others like KGW’s Galen Ettlin chimed in with replies like this:

There were other posts, but you get the idea.

First off, I said in my story that Mayfield should do what he wants to do and the Feb book is the perfect time to do it. It’s not every day that a male Anchor goes on the newscast wearing a dress and pearls and I am sure it would create some buzz.

We did make a joke that wearing a dress on air would not be any worse than the jacket he wore on the air on Monday (see pic to the right).

It’s a loud jacket and over a T-shirt. I have said a number of times here on FTVLive that I am not the person to look to for fashion advice. As I have said, I wear shorts and a white T-shirt 90% of the time, so I am certainly not Mr. Blackwell.

As for Ettlin’s claim of me posting “borderline homophobic” stories about him. Here is a link to the first story I posted about him and here is a link to the second story about Ettlin. I challenge anyone to see where the “ “homophobic” undertones are in either story? Also, I should point out that up until yesterday, I didn’t even know that Galen Ettlin was gay, and as Jerry Seinfield would follow up with, not that there is anything wrong with that.

You want to call out my stories, go right ahead. You want to call me a bully, fair enough, but when you call me homophobic, you could not be more wrong.

My track record speaks for itself and I stand on that record. I have shown support for the LGBTQ community, I have been a proponent for women and the minority community. I have urged stations and networks to have better representation on-air and more importantly in the corner offices.

After Mayfield’s “Bully” post, a Reporter that works in the same state reached out to FTVLive with his support. This is a portion of what he sent along;

I wanted to lend my support to you following this sheer nonsense with regard to Travis Mayfield.

First-- some understanding. I'm gay man myself, married to my husband for a decade now and have NO FUCKS about letting people know who I am. I'm 1,000 percent in support of equal rights for my LGBTQ brothers and sisters--- after all, I'm part of the community!

What pisses me off about Mayfield's harping about "homophobia" and "transphobia" is that there was nothing in your post to suggest that you were going after him for his sexuality.

Bingo! I never attacked Mayfield for being gay and I never would. In fact, you can argue that I said he should act on his thoughts.

I also got a number of other emails from Gay Journalists that felt I was being unfairly attacked. These are longtime readers of FTVLive and they know where I stand and where my heart is when it comes to the LGBTQ community in this business.

The bottom line in all this? Look, I dish out criticism on this industry on a daily basis. I praise those that do well, call out those that do bad and try and give all of you the information on what is happening in TV news.

Call me an “asshole” (But not if you work at a Nexstar station), a “Bully”, an “idiot” or whatever other words you think fits. But, when you call me “homophobic” then I’m going to tell you that you are flat out wrong.

Again, I will let my record and my past speak for themselves on that.

Lastly, Tavis Mayfield is entitled to his opinion and I would have replied to his tweet that he posted, but I am blocked from doing so.

And, about that jacket he wore on Monday over the T-shirt, I don’t know about you, but somewhere a 1968 Volkswagen is missing some seat covers.

Just saying….