TV traffic reporter Leslie Horton has developed a thick skin over the years because of nasty feedback from viewers, but she unleashed a viral smackdown last week after she says one of them “crossed my line.”
The usually unflappable host, who has been at Global Calgary since 1995, was about to give a live report on the morning show when she decided to read out a message she received during a break.
“I’m just gonna respond to an email that I just got saying, 'Congratulations on your pregnancy. If you’re gonna wear old bus-driver pants, you have to expect emails like this,”’ Horton said.
“So thanks for that,” she responded. "No, I’m not pregnant. I actually lost my uterus to cancer last year. And this is what women of my age look like. So if it is offensive to you, that is unfortunate.
“Think about the emails that you send.”
It is a quote from the sister of Giulia Cecchettin, an Italian woman who was murdered by her ex 3 weeks ago.
“It is often said ‘not all men.’ “They are not all men, but they are always men” (she) wrote. “No man is good if he does nothing to dismantle the society that privileges him so much. It is the responsibility of men in this patriarchal society, given their privileges and power, to educate and call out friends and colleagues as soon as they hear the slightest hint of sexist violence. Tell it to that friend who controls his girlfriend, tell it to that colleague who engages in street harassment, harass those behaviors accepted by society, which are nothing more than the prelude to femicide.”
