Anchor Sues Nexstar Station for Discrimination

Megan Murphy, who went by Megan Dillard while working at WDAF in Kansas City says that the station refused to promote her main Anchor because she was “the wrong minority.”

Murphy claims that WDAF News Director Sean McNamara refused to offer her the job or even consider her because “she was not Black/African American, which WDAF considered to be the ‘right’ minority,” according to the lawsuit.

Murphy claims McNamara’s comment was a reference to her Asian American background. She says she was the only Asian on-air employee at the KC station.

Murphy filed her lawsuit in county Court, but Nexstar moved it to federal court last week.

Through its attorney, Nexstar said it does not comment on pending litigation. But the company denied Murphy’s allegations in the answer it filed in Jackson County Circuit Court.

Murphy’s one-count suit seeks unspecified damages under Section 1981 of the federal Civil Rights Act, which prohibits intentional racial discrimination.

“Defendant’s conduct was malicious or recklessly indifferent to Plaintiff’s right to be free from discrimination in employment and negotiating contractual relationships,” the lawsuit alleges.

H/T KCUR