When you are on television, you hear from a lot of viewers, sometimes complimentary, sometimes not so much. An anchor at our sister station in La Crosse, WKBT, got an email that she answered on the air this morning. And that four-minute video has hit a nerve across the country.
Here are some of the excerpts. On Friday, I received the following email from a La Crosse man with the subject line, community responsibility, and it reads as follows. I was surprised indeed to witness that your physical condition hasn't improved for many years.
Obesity is one of the worst choices a person can make and one of the most dangerous habits to maintain. The truth is, I am overweight. You could call me fat, and yes, even obese on a doctor's chart. But to the person who wrote me that letter, do you think I don't know that?
That your cruel words are pointing out something that I don't see? And here is where I want all of us to learn something from this. If you didn't already know, October is National Anti-Bullying Month, and this is a problem that is growing every day in our schools and on the Internet.
It is a major issue in the lives of young people today, and as the mother of three young girls, it scares me to death. And this behavior is learned. It is passed down from people, like the man who wrote me that email. If you are at home...
And you are talking about the fat news lady. Guess what? Your children are probably going to go to school and call someone fat.
And I leave you with this. To all of the children out there who feel lost, who are struggling with your weight, with the color of your skin, your sexual preference, your disability, even the acne on your face, listen to me right now. Do not let your self-worth be defined by bullies.
Learn from my experience that the cruel words of one are nothing compared to the shouts of many. Jennifer Livingston joins us now from La Crosse. Welcome to Live at Five, Jennifer. Hi, Jennifer. Your husband...
Hi, thanks for having me. Your husband, also an anchor at the station, posted the original email and things snowballed from there. What happened? Well, I got the email on Friday, and a few moments after I received it, I was taken aback.
I read it to colleagues in the newsroom as kind of a, you won't believe this email I just got. And I tried to laugh it off. They didn't.
And I could see that there was a reaction there that I wasn't fully comprehending. My husband got a hold of it. He was outraged. I mean, it... It's one thing to call a person obese and to call someone fat, but it's another thing to call them out on being a role model for young girls when I have three young girls.
And that was what really sparked my husband in taking a stand, and I owe him a lot for being brave enough to put it out there. Well, Jennifer, I just want to say bravo. Bravo to you and to your husband, because you say in your editorial that we're in the public eye and we're used to this. This is sort of...
part of the deal, but until I heard you talk, I have to be honest, I never thought of this as bullying. So good for you for calling it what it is. You know, thank you, first of all, very much.
And it is, you know, we're so used to getting these kinds of emails, not to this extent, but. To talk about our appearance, to talk about the way we cover a story, and there is a line, I believe, that cannot be crossed. And when you cross the line, you need to be called out on it. Whether you're an adult, whether you're a teenager, whether you're in junior high, there needs to be people that can take a stand and say it's not right.
I know it's easy to hide behind the email. It doesn't make it okay. So this was the final straw. As you say, we all get these sort of emails. We get nice ones as well, but this was it for you.
This was it for me. I did actually have a back and forth with the person who sent the email. I called him out on it. I tried to argue my case a little. And he was well spoken in the words that he said and clearly is. a book smart person, but he wasn't coming around and I told him that I was considering posting the information and he said, by all means, go ahead and do that and so I did.
I have not heard from him since, but I wanted to make him aware that this type of behavior and anyone that he might influence needs to know you can't send that kind of information to anyone, whether it be someone in the public or your next-door neighbor. Well, to say this touched a nerve is putting it mildly. It's going viral now.
And I wonder if you really understand the magnitude of what you've done here. You've sort of given hope and a voice to anyone who has ever been depressed about their appearance. You're really giving people courage. I wonder, too, if I have any idea about this. It's been a whirlwind day for us, and I really could never imagine what the words of an anchor in a small market television station could, what my words could have and impact people around the country.
And I'm honored by it. I hope people remember the message and not the messenger. But I've heard from a lot of different people today who have said they're in high school now and they deal with bullies. They dealt with bullies 30 years ago.
and it still hurts to this day. Thank you for speaking out and for speaking up, and I hope more people will be encouraged to do so. I think we have to echo that. Thank you for speaking out.
It was courageous work. Thanks for having me. Thanks for being with us today. Thank you, Jennifer.