A veteran newsreader has reportedly been fired from one of Canada’s most-watched television news programs after “going grey”.
Lisa LaFlamme announced she would be leaving the CTV National News presenter said she was “blindsided” and left “shocked and saddened” by the allegedly sudden decision to end her contract.
“At 58, I still thought I’d have a lot more time to tell more of the stories that impact our daily lives,” she said in the Twitter video.
“It is crushing to be leaving CTV National News in a manner that is not my choice.”
The news anchor said she was asked to keep the details of her termination confidential, as the company released a statement saying the decision had nothing to do with LaFlamme’s hair colour or age and was simply “a business decision”.
LaFlamme, like many people around the world, stopped dying her previously brown hair throughout the pandemic, a decision she told viewers she wished she had made sooner.
“I finally said, ‘Why bother? I’m going grey.’ Honestly, if I had known the lockdown could be so liberating on that front I would have done it a lot sooner,” she said during the network’s year-in-review special.
LaFlamme has been in the anchor job since 2011 but has been with the news outlet for 35 years, and still had two years left on her contract at the time of the “blindside”.
Bell Media, which owns CTV National News, said it knew many viewers would be disappointed LaFlamme “would be leaving her position”, and regretted the way the news had been revealed.
It added it would launch an independent investigation into newsroom practices.
“CTV regrets that the way in which the news of her departure has been communicated may have left viewers with the wrong impression about how CTV regards Lisa and her remarkable career,” Bell Media tweeted in a statement.
“We have always taken matters regarding any discrimination very seriously and are committed to a safe, inclusive and respectful work environment for all our employees, devoid of any toxic behaviour.”
“Consistent with our policies, we are taking steps to initiate an independent third-party internal workplace review of our newsroom, which will take place over the following weeks.”
Image credits: CTV News
This article first appeared on OverSixty.