A woman in a burka presented the weather forecast yesterday on Belgian TV statio, Télé Bruxelles.
The station has been allowing viewers to present the weather broadcast since last November, and yesterday's broadcast was done by a burka wearing woman, who was presented as Fadila, the blue girl. She spoke French with an African accent and appeared with only her eyes uncovered.
The broadcast stirred quite a controversy in Belgium, where - like in other parts of Europe - wearing traditional religious clothes that mask women's face is considered illegal, an infringment on women's rights and freedom.
Belgian parliament member Nathalie Gilson publically spoke against the broadcast, demanding to know what supervision does Télé Bruxelles enact over its broadcasts.
The controversy grew when an investigation revealed the burka wearing weather woman was actually a cameraman who works for the network and created a "spoof" broadcast.
The original video of the burka wearing weatherwoman was removed from the Télé Bruxelles website, but has already made its way to online video services like youtube.
Update: according to readers on this forum, the woman wasn't wearing a Burka but a Niqab.
Update 2: Télé Bruxelles has posted an official comment on the story on its website, referring to it as "a stupid joke" that showed bad taste. They're blaming the production compay who produces the segment, and pointing a finger at a young director who decided to dress his girlfriend in the Nigab and pretend to be a traditional muslim woman.
PEOPLE CAN WEAR WHAT THEY WANT BECAUSE EVERYONE HAS THE RIGHT TO A RELIGION, AND IF PEOPLE CAN HANDLE THE FACT THAT OTHERS HAVE SOME ORIGINAL THINKING OR DEEPER BELIEFS, ITS THEIR PROBLEM. PEOPLE CAN DO WHAT THEY WANT, IT ISNT OFFENDING ANYONE TO WEAR A BHURKA, BUT TO INSULT HER RELIGION OBVIOULSY IS OFFENSIVE, BIGOTED, UNFAIR AND NARROWMINDED
wear what you want, just don't start talking about your personal nonsense and /or beliefs, unless you want to chase viewers.
TV personalities certainly get away with wearing a lot less.
Its up to the TV station in my opinion
Bmccue - I'm curious for your reasoning here. Elaborate?