A Canadian TV reporter has delivered a withering response after being fat shamed live on air.
Leslie Horton, 59, was delivering a live traffic report for news outlet Global News when a viewer’s email suggesting she was pregnant caught her eye.
Horton responded: “So, thanks for that. Um, no, I’m not pregnant. I actually lost my uterus to cancer last year. And um, this is what women of my age look like.
“So if it is offensive to you, that is unfortunate,” Horton added. “Think about the emails you send.”
Global News Calgary traffic reporter @global_leslie responds to an email criticising her choice of clothes. #yyc pic.twitter.com/r9Od0hKbn0
— Global Calgary (@GlobalCalgary) December 5, 2023
Supporters of Horton quickly took to Twitter/X after the network posted a video of the moment.
“Way to go, Leslie, for standing up to rude people like that,” one person wrote.
Another added: “You look beautiful. Don’t change a thing.”
News interest in the story was such that Horton even found herself discussing the incident on Good Morning America on Wednesday.
Horton told the program she would normally “ignore” or “dismiss” negative remarks before adding: “It is a man [who] has been sending nasty emails for about four years now…it’s been a pretty constant stream of emails. And when I got that email during our show, last Wednesday morning, I had a visceral response to it. And I was hurt, angry.
“And I was partly determined that I was clear that this was not an appropriate thing to say. The aim of the email was to hurt and humiliate. And shame me,” she said.
The reporter revealed she had been diagnosed with endometrial cancer two years ago. She said she lost her uterus during the journey and took a few months off work and “slowly rebuilt my life”.
“Because anytime you have a battle with cancer, [it] takes a toll on many, many levels. And you have to figure out who you are going forward, life becomes before cancer, and after cancer,” she said.
