A Canadian Journalist Was Criticized For A Dress She Wore On-Air & She's Getting Major Support

A Canadian journalist is receiving a lot of support online after a viewer reached out and called the outfit she wore on-air "inappropriate" and "almost upsetting."

Tess van Straaten, a news personality with CHEK News in Victoria, B.C., shared a complaint she received from a female viewer on Twitter over a sleeveless dress she wore during a weather forecast.

In the email the viewer wrote it was "inappropriate" for the journalist to "wear sleeveless tops in the wintertime to report on the weather."

"In my opinion she should be wearing a suit jacket and look more professional like other newscasters around the world," read the email that Van Straaten said was sent to the entire newsroom.

"Sorry for the negative comment but it is almost upsetting to see what she is wearing," it continued.

The B.C. journalist decided to share the complaint via Twitter writing, "This is what women in broadcasting sadly still face in 2023... Do you think my dress is 'almost upsetting'?"

After sharing the email online, Van Straaten received major support both from viewers and fellow journalists.

By Monday the tweet had been viewed over 340,000 times and had more than 800 comments.

Many people shared their support with Van Straaten.

CTV Vancouver news anchor Keri Adams tweeted "your arms showing shouldn't even be part of the conversation."

Van Straaten's CHEK colleague Kori Sidaway poked fun at the email writing "This just in: women have arms!"

NYPD Blue actress Sharon Lawrence also voiced her opinion on the complaint, writing "This person can't even spell, so let's not worry about the ignorant, nervous nightmares out there."

Another person posted a Simpsons GIF pointing out the silliness of the complaint.

One Twitter user jokingly asked Van Straaten to dress more warmly next time to "empathize with our suffering" referring to the cold temperatures we have to deal with outside.

However, not all the comments were supportive.

One person wrote "A sleeveless dress in the middle of the winter just looks odd."

In one of her responses to the comments, Van Straaten said she has been in broadcasting for over 20 years and she was upset that comments like this still happen.

On December 10, CTV Calgary anchor Kathy Le publicly shared a viewer complaint that she received. The complaint was over the fact that she was "heavily pregnant" on air.

Narcity reached out to Van Straaten for a comment, but we did not hear back before the story was published.