Style Weekly yesterday fired a reporter who sent an e-mail that used an obscenity to describe a disabled man, the reporter confirmed.
Reporter Chris Dovi said he referred to William Weeks, a blind motivational speaker, as a "blind [expletive]" in an e-mail last Friday that Dovi meant to send to an editor.
The e-mail instead went to Scott McCaskey, a public relations spokesman for Weeks. Yesterday, McCaskey issued a news release that contained Dovi's e-mail and said the e-mail "reveals society's ongoing prejudice against the disabled."
Dovi said yesterday that he had grown frustrated with McCaskey for repeatedly calling and e-mailing him about getting Style to cover Weeks' presentation Feb. 25 in Richmond.
Dovi, a former reporter for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, said his insulting language was an expression of his frustration with McCaskey, a senior associate for Norfolk-based Goldman & Associates Public Relations.
"I am not making excuses for myself here," Dovi said. "I shouldn't have been flip."
Dean Goldman, president of Goldman & Associates, said he is concerned that such language is acceptable within Style Weekly: "It represents a culture within an organization."
Jason Roop, Style's editor in chief, declined to answer questions but released a statement.
It says Dovi regretted the e-mail but that his disparaging language "violated the core values we hold sacred at Style." The statement adds that the newspaper has apologized to Weeks.
It also says that Dovi covered issues affecting people with disabilities, the homeless and jail inmates during his three years with Style.
Contact Reed Williams at (804) 649-6332 or rwilliams@timesdispatch.com.
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