Megan Murphy, who went by Megan Dillard on the air at Kansas City Fox affiliate WDAF, is suing the station’s parent company Nexstar over claims she was passed over for promotion because she isn’t African-American.
In the lawsuit, which was filed April 4, Kansas City NPR affiliate KCUR said Murphy claimed news director Sean McNamara didn’t offer her the job to replace outgoing lead anchor Dhomonique Ricks in 2020 because “she was not Black/African American, which Defendant considered to be the ‘right’ minority.'”
Murphy said she was the only Asian on-air employee at the Fox affiliate at the time. Her suit seeks unspecified damages under Section 1981 of the federal Civil Rights Act, which prohibits intentional racial discrimination.
Murphy had worked at the station since 2014 and was promoted to weekend anchor in 2017. She left the station in November 2020.
Nexstar took over the station from Tribune in late 2019, a few months before the lead evening anchor position became available.
Nexstar declined any comment. We also asked Murphy about the lawsuit. We’ll update when we hear back.