Evrod Cassimy: Pic of anchor with singer/felon Chris Brown removed from CBS4 website

Among the top stories on CBS4's website at this writing is an introduction to newly hired anchor/reporter Evrod Cassimy. But one viewer who clicked was distressed to discover that Cassimy's head shot, seen here, was accompanied by a photo of him arm-in-arm with singer Chris Brown, who pleaded guilty in...

By Michael Roberts

August 30, 2011

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Among the top stories on CBS4's website at this writing is an introduction to newly hired anchor/reporter Evrod Cassimy. But one viewer who clicked was distressed to discover that Cassimy's head shot, seen here, was accompanied by a photo of him arm-in-arm with singer Chris Brown, who pleaded guilty in 2009 to assaulting his then-girlfriend, pop star Rihanna. Here's the shot. Brown, a 2006 Westword profile subject, was sentenced to five years probation and six months of community service for the assault, which took place prior to the 2009 Grammy Awards broadcast, on which both of he and Rihanna were to be featured. The reason she didn't participate is clear from this photo of her injuries obtained by TMZ: Brown has subsequently expressed remorse for his actions. Earlier this year, however, he complained about the release of more Rihanna assault photos, prompting our Kieran Maletsky to pen a post headlined "Chris Brown is an ass who doesn't deserve another chance."

After questioning Cassimy's judgment regarding the photo in an e-mail to Westword, the aforementioned viewer wrote, "WTF is Channel 4 thinking? Why would they allow THAT photo to be on their website? What if the dude was an OJ fan? Would they have drawn the line there?"

Thus far, Cassimy -- who, like Rihanna, is of Caribbean descent (his parents are from Trinidad, she was born in Barbados) -- hasn't responded to an interview request on this subject. However, CBS4 news director Tim Wieland, replying via e-mail, writes, "That photo was taken during an interview Evrod conducted with Chris Brown at his former station [in Orlando, Florida], about a charity event Brown was doing for the Red Cross."

However, he adds, "We've decided to remove it from the bio page."

The photo is now gone. But Brown is still mentioned in the text among celebrity interview subjects, who also include Trey Songz, Cindy Crawford and Alex Trebek.

Photos of whom would not have raised any eyebrows.

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Michael Roberts began his career with Westword in 1990 as music editor. In 1999, he took on a new role, full-time media reporter, as author of a column called The Message. In 2008, he became the lead writer for Westword's news blog, The Latest Word, a position he held until January 2023. Michael continues to freelance for Westword, covering everything from business to sports and the media; he also contributes to Jazziz, a national music magazine. He holds a bachelor's degree from what is now Colorado Mesa University and master's degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles, and Northwestern University.

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