KCRW President Jennifer Ferro apologized to staff this week for the station’s failure to “communicate compassion” to a former producer, Cerise Castle, who said her time working at KCRW was filled with “microaggressions, gaslighting and blatant racism.”
“I believe we neglected to communicate compassion to Cerise and others who had unhappy and unwelcoming experiences at KCRW which caused them to leave. For that, on behalf of KCRW, I am incredibly sorry,” Ferro wrote. “The comments about our workplace were taken seriously at the time. Those comments and others caused us all to examine our assumptions, our work, our prejudices and the reality that was exposed.”
In an email sent to TheWrap on Friday, Castle said she hasn’t “heard anything from KCRW.”
On Tuesday, Castle shared a resignation letter she sent to the station last year, in which she said employees described her hair as “militaristic” and said she had repeatedly been prevented from entering KCRW’s building because she “didn’t look like someone who worked at KCRW.” Castle also said she had “consistently” been confused with another Black woman who worked at the station and witnessed other staff say that “structural racism isn’t real.”
The previous day, Castle had appeared on a podcast to detail her experiences working at KCRW.
In a statement, the station said it had conducted a four-month investigation into Castle’s claims and found that “many” were “unsubstantiated or not corroborated.”