A former television reporter says she was not considered for an anchor position at a Kansas City station because she is white.
Brooke Marcotte filed her lawsuit in federal court against Nexstar Broadcasting Inc., which owns WDAF-TV Fox 4 in Kansas City. Marcotte was known as Brooke Lennington on television. She worked at KSNT in Topeka, which also was owned by Nexstar.
According to the complaint, Nexstar acquired Fox 4 in Kansas City in 2019. Marcotte was working at KSNT in Topeka at the time, which already was owned by Nexstar. Soon after Nexstar acquired Fox 4, a weekday evening anchor who is Black submitted her resignation.
Nexstar posted the job opening, and Marcotte applied, according to the complaint. She submitted her resume and cover letter to Sean McNamara, who is News Director at Fox 4.
A Kansas native, Marcotte graduated from Kansas State University with a degree in digital media with an electronic focus. She worked for a station in Lawrence before joining KSNT in Topeka. There, she was a weekend anchor and weekday reporter.
Marcotte says she was qualified for the job and able to perform the required duties of the job, but she says McNamara did hire her. The station manager also was involved in the decision, Marcotte says.
“You’re not culturally what we’re looking for,” he told her, according to the complaint. “When plaintiff asked News Director McNamara to explain what he meant, McNamara became nervous and gave an explanation that did not make sense.”
Marcotte says she wasn’t given an opportunity to read for the position, which she says was offered to Black candidates. She says the position was vacant until June 2020 when it was filled by a Black applicant.
The complaint says another Nexstar employee identified by the initials MM also expressed interest in the position but was not considered because she is Filipina. The same attorneys represented a plaintiff named Megan Murphy in a similar lawsuit two years ago that, according to federal court filings, is close to being settled.
“MM’s agent spoke with News Director Sean McNamara to express MM’s interest in the position,” the complaint states. “In response, McNamara said he was looking for a ‘different demographic’ and that he needed ‘diversity.’”
When MM spoke to McNamara directly about the job, he told her she was the “wrong minority,” according to both Murphy and Marcotte’s complaints.
“McNamara told another anchor employed at Fox 4 by Nexstar that he was only going to hire an African American or Black anchor for the weekday evening anchor position,” the complaint says, also claiming McNamara told another director-level employee the same.
Marcotte accuses Nexstar of discrimination. She seeks compensatory damages, actual damages, punitive damages, court costs, attorney fees, expenses, interest and other relief.
She is being represented by Kenneth D. Kinney and Thomas F. Ralston of Ralston Kinney in Kansas City and by Dennis E. Egan of The Popham Law Firm in Kansas City.
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri case number 4:24-cv-0108