Black television exec resigns following accusations of reverse racism and discrimination

WABC News Director Camille Edwards has stepped down from her position, but it's not why you think.

WABC News Director Camille Edwards has stepped down from her position at the New York television

Mar 20, 2018

WABC/Channel 7 boss Camille Edwards thegrio.com — WABC/Channel 7 boss Camille Edwards resigns. (Courtesy of LinkedIn)

WABC News Director Camille Edwards has resigned from her position at the New York television station, according to documents obtained by Page Six.

The news comes following some rather controversial events regarding the now former director and her work ethic, but in an email sent to her colleagues and staff, Edwards sets the record straight.

“As most of you know, the last six months have been extremely hard for me,” Edwards wrote. “I lost two of the most important people in my life during a short period of time. That kind of loss forces you to really look at your own life. I’ve spent the last few months on bereavement leave thinking about what’s next for me and opportunities I want to explore. I’ve made the really difficult decision to leave my post at WABC.”

Edwards had been on leave for the last four months, according to DailyMail. The reason for the leave has been speculated between a possible suspension where she was “banned” from the network to stepping away from her role for personal reasons.

In October, WABC weekend media manager, Matthew Lamattina accused Edwards of discrimination on the basis of gender, race, color and retaliation. Edwards, a Black woman was essentially accused of reverse racism by Lamattina, a white man. However, the NY State Division of Human Rights dismissed the case.

A month later, Edwards and her colleague, Dave Davis, president and GM of WABC, were named in a seperate discrimination suit. Sports writer Laura Behnke, a white woman, claimed that she had not been promoted to the weekend reporter position because of her race.

Behnke left the news station in December and Davis made the decision to retire in February.

President of ABC owned stations group, Wendy McMahon issued the following statement on Edward’s departure to AdWeek.

“We thank Camille for the role she’s played in WABC’s success and the contributions she’s made to the larger ABC Owned Stations Group during her 15 years of service and wish her well with her future endeavors.”