Miami TV Station Suspends Host Over 'Martyr' Remark

Kalyn James

A Miami-area PBS Affailitie WPBT2 TV has suspended host Kalyn Chapman James for calling Micah Xavier Johnson, the man who killed five police officers at an anti-police-brutality march in Dallas last week, a "martyr" in a video she posted Sunday.

In a video, James, filming from her car after church, said she'd been feeling torn up and conflicted over the recent shooting in Dallas.

"My heart weeps, but I think more than anything, I'm dealing with a bit of guilt," she said before bursting into tears.

"Because I don't feel sad for the officers that lost their lives. I know that's really not my heart. I value human life. And I want to feel sad for them, but I can't help but feeling like the shooter was a martyr. And I know it's not the right way to feel because nobody deserves to lose their lives."



But, she said, she was "so torn up in her heart" about the recent shootings of black men such as Louisiana's Alton Sterling and Minnesota's Philando Castile that she "can't help but feel like I wasn't surprised by what the [Dallas] shooter did."

James, a former beauty queen who became the first black Miss Alabama, currently hosts the program Art Loft on WPBT2, Miami's PBS affiliate.

In response to James' video, WPBT2 announced via Twitter that it had placed James on temporary administrative leave while the station "carefully looks further into the matter:

WPBT2's statement regarding comments made by one of its contractors surrounding the tragic events in Dallas. pic.twitter.com/WCDvVq0eOi

— WPBT2 (@WPBT2) July 11, 2016