News Anchor Kacey Montoya Unjustly Judged For Being Swimsuit Model Kacey Aliece/Kacey Bytheway?

Update: Ms. Montoya contacted us regarding some of the items originally mentioned in this story and we have updated the story accordingly,  however, this does not mean that Ms. Montoya approves, confirms or agrees with this article.

Current CBS 2 morning news anchor in Portland, OR, Kacey Montoya has become part of a discrimination lawsuit filed last Tuesday by one Jeff Alan –KOIN’s 6 former news director and Montoya’s prior boss. In the lawsuit, Alan claims that he was fired because he made “significant objections” to the hiring of Kacey. He objected to Montoya’s hiring because he found pictures of Kacey posing in a bikini and lingerie online.

“Alan’s new supervisor, Chris Sehring, told Alan to check out a resume tape from prospective news reporter Kacey Montoya, according to the lawsuit. Sehring told Alan that they “would probably be forced to hire her,” the lawsuit says. Alan objected to hiring Montoya on two grounds, the lawsuit says. First, he believed she was unqualified. And second, according to the lawsuit, “some quick internet searches” revealed that Montoya appeared “in inappropriate material” under the names Kacey Aliece and Kacey Bytheway.”

Kacey who went by the names Kacey Aliece (Aliece is her middle name) and Kacey Bytheway and now goes under her married name Kacey Montoya got her start in Oak Hill, West Virginia. She then moved to KPSP in Palm Springs where she was part of an Emmy-award winning morning show. After that she moved on to CBS 2 in Portland, Oregon, a much higher ranked media market.
According to a story in the personal blog of Jeff Halliday, a former employee at WDTV in West Virginia, Kacey’s resume reel, which he saw when she applied to that station, included “a glamor shot of her in a bikini top.” Jeff states that this was “clearly designed to draw attention to her physique rather than her reporting ability. She was indeed beautiful. But the way she was going about it was shameless.” he goes on to say.

In our mind, while the pictures of Kacey in a bikini and lingerie might have been riské for some, we don’t see how that is a factor in her ability to deliver the news. Even Halliday goes on to admit that Kaceys resume “showed some learned skills in college and the SJP (Society of Professional Journalists) award.” Sounds like Jeff Halliday and Jeff Alan were quick to judge Kacey perhaps because she was beautiful? Perhaps because Kacey is a woman?

From Erotica to the Evening News [An Enjoyable Waste Of Your Time]