Patti LuPone resigned from union, says ‘she won’t be on stage for a very long time’
On-air voice for WNBC for less than a year
By Kevin Fallon
3 June 2017
The WNBC anchor and news anchor for WNBC New York, Patti LuPone, was forced out of the WNBC Radio and Television news team on Friday after she had complained to the WNBC management about the coverage of the Democratic convention.
LuPone, who joined the WNBC broadcast team in March 2016, had been on the air at the station for less than a year when she announced her resignation on Friday, saying in a statement, “I have decided to leave my position as WNBC journalist to pursue other opportunities.”
WNBC, which is the sister station to WNBC Radio in New York City, was in crisis mode late Thursday as the presidential nominating conventions moved to New York City. On the broadcast, WNBC aired mostly negative coverage from the perspective of the Clinton-Trump political race. The station was also downplaying the significance of the second Democratic presidential primary election in Illinois in two years and the fact that the convention will be held at Trump Country, which is just across the river from New York City.
The station, which is owned by A&E Networks, also failed to adequately cover Hillary Clinton’s primary loss last week. On-air voice and anchor Bill Handel, who had been on WNBC for nearly eight years at the time of LuPone’s resignation, was promoted to anchor in the second half of this year.
According to LuPone, she was forced out of her position after she complained about the coverage on WNBC’s Friday 10 p.m. broadcast. “The decision by management to terminate my employment is regrettable, as I have enjoyed working for WNBC Radio and Television,” she said in a statement issued by her lawyer, Scott Rosin, on Friday.
In an interview Saturday, LuPone said that she was “not exactly excited” about her role at the station, but she had been a “great news anchor