Rhonda Lee had long been told that she needed to make her natural hair "more pleasing to a wider audience," she told HuffPost Live on Thursday, but she never expected her hair style to actually compromise her job.
Lee, an African American woman who currently works as a meteorologist for WeatherNation TV, recalled how comments she made in response to Internet vitriol targeting her hair ultimately led to her being fired by her former network.
"There really does come a breaking point when either you're going to accept me as I am and how I do my job, or you're not," she explained. "Apparently my station of KTBS chose not, and I was quickly fired for... two different comments that got me in trouble, both times defending being black in general."
While the network first asked that she let them know before releasing a "controversial statement" in the future, Lee told Nancy Redd, she took issue with that request given the nature of her commentary.
"[It] was kind of confusing to me at the time because I don't really consider my hair to be controversial -- I just consider it to be on my head!" she affirmed.
Her goal in responding to comments was not to stir the pot, she explained, but to celebrate her unique heritage.
"When it comes to looks, I feel like what I said to that viewer was that I'm very proud of who I am," she said.
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