WISH-TV meteorologist says she was fired after questioning how station treats Black women

After more than six years as WISH-TV‘s chief meteorologist, Ashley Brown Elliott says she was fired last week after questioning the locally owned TV station’s treatment of Black women employees.

Brown Elliott, who joined WISH in December 2018 after more than a decade as a meteorologist at other outlets, posted on social media Thursday that she took offense when station management asked her to stop wearing certain colors while on air. Other Black employees allegedly were asked to remove their dreadlocks or told they were “too curvy,” according to Brown Elliott.

The company has fired eight Black women over the past two years, Brown Elliott said.

Reached by IndyStar Monday, Brown Elliott, 43, declined to discuss her complaints any further for fear of damaging her future job prospects. Her last day on air was Feb. 19.

The allegations raise questions about the TV station’s new Indianapolis-based owner, Circle City Broadcasting, which bought WISH and WNDY from Nexstar Media Group for $42.5 million in 2019. The company’s owner, Indianapolis native DuJuan McCoy, has emphasized his role as a Black media executive, saying he is the first African American in the nation to have owned and operated a Fox affiliate station.

WISH and Circle City Broadcasting did not respond to IndyStar’s requests for comment Monday.

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Brown Elliott, an Indianapolis native who graduated from Ball State University, joined WISH after stints in southern California, Indianapolis and Cincinnati. She was the morning meteorologist for WRTV, the Indianapolis ABC affiliate, from July 2012 to July 2017, according to her LinkedIn account. In her role at WISH, Brown Elliott said she was the first Black woman to work as an Indianapolis TV station’s chief meteorologist.

Other Black women have also criticized the company’s leadership in recent months. In a separate discrimination lawsuit against Circle City Broadcasting filed last August, a former Black woman news anchor claimed she was fired after asking management why women anchors in prime-time roles aren’t paid more than male anchors with less viewership.

April Simpson, who joined WISH in September 2023, said in the lawsuit that she questioned McCoy after learning that two male anchors with lesser roles were paid the same $95,000 salary as her. Simpson anchored weekday evening broadcasts at 4 p.m., 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. while the two men worked weekends or mornings.

Two months later, Simpson claims she was sent home with little explanation. Two days later, on April 5, 2024, she received a termination letter saying she was fired for failing to take feedback seriously and adapt to the digital media environment, appearing unengaged on camera and struggling to read the teleprompter.

Simpson accused Circle City Broadcasting of breaking federal laws protecting African Americans, women and people with disabilities from discrimination in the workplace. Most of the difficulties mentioned in the termination letter were due to blindness in her left eye caused by a brain tumor, according to the lawsuit.

In October, the two parties agreed to settle the dispute outside of court. Simpson did not respond to an IndyStar request for comment Monday.

Email IndyStar Reporter Jordan Smith at JTsmith@gannett.com. Follow him on X: @jordantsmith09

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: WISH-TV meteorologist Ashley Brown, Black woman, fired

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