After Julie Chen revealed having plastic surgery because of comments from a former WDTN news director, the Dayton Daily News reports the local NBC affiliate has issued an apology to the CBS talk and reality show host.
“We are sorry to hear about what happened to CBS’ Julie Chen in 1995 when she was a reporter at WDTN-TV,” Joe Abouzeid, WDTN and WBDT president and general manager said in a statement. “The station was under different management and ownership during that time. At WDTN and WBDT, we don’t tolerate racism or discrimination of any kind.”
>RELATED TVNewser: Julie Chen Reveals Having Surgery On Her ‘Asian Eyes’
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Chen is the host of CBS reality series “Big Brother” and co-host of daytime show “The Talk.” During “Secret Week” on “The Talk,” Chen told viewers a former news director at WDTN told her she would never work in Dayton as an anchor because she was Chinese.
Chen said shortly after, she underwent a double eyelid surgery to give her eyes a more”western” appearance.
Chen told the talk show’s audience when she asked the then news director if she had a shot at anchoring at the station she said he told her, “Let’s face it, Julie, how relatable are you to our community?” She said he went on to tell her, “Because of your heritage, because of your Asian eyes, sometimes I’ve noticed when you’re on camera and you’re interviewing someone, you look disinterested. You look bored because your eyes are so heavy, they’re so small.”
Here’s video of Chen talking about it on the show: