Thomas Roberts objects to our “biased” headline

As we told you in a recent post, CNN anchor and correspondent Thomas Roberts has moved on from the cable news network - we hope to greener pastures. A few weeks back we posted a story about AC360 where Anderson Cooper talked with Roberts and another man, Michael Goles, about the childhood sexual abuse they suffered at the hands of the same Catholic priest. The AC story discussed the damage inflicted on the men as well as their ongoing efforts to change laws on behalf of victims of sexual abuse.

In the original post (which I strongly encourage you to read), we asked why Roberts’ sexuality or his partner weren’t mentioned during the story, feeling it was an opportunity missed to demystify stereotypes about gay men and sexual abuse. We also tried to arrange an interview with him to ask about that, but were unable to do so.

Several weeks ago, AfterElton.com interviewed Roberts for a series concerning gay on-camera newsmen we are running starting next week. And during that interview, Roberts made it very clear that he felt our post about his appearance on AC360 was unfair. Like - big time.

As to why his sexuality and partner weren’t mentioned in the story, Roberts said “It is irrelevant. The story was about sexual abuse, and the person going back to fight for a child that was abused, and what they’re doing today to try and change laws to protect children. It’s not a profile on Thomas Roberts.”

And he took special issue with our headline “Did We Miss Something” which he found “biased” and sensational. He felt our take undermined the broader message of the story – shedding light on abuse, and highlighting efforts to stop it. (Obviously, we don’t agree.)

Roberts also explained why Goles sexuality was mentioned, while his own was not: “The reason why (Goles) was sent to Father Jeff was specifically part of the story, as was the reason I was sent to Father Jeff … . Michael being sent for being gay is Michael’s story. Me being sent for my parents divorce is my story. Setting up the pretense for why we were put in a predator’s hands.”

Ultimately the deal is Roberts doesn’t want the two issues conflated. “I don’t want to draw all these correlations between something that’s not an issue to me – being gay is not an issue to me, being sexually abused; that’s an issue. That’s a problem, that’s illegal. Sexual abuse: issue. Gay: not an issue.”

Here at AE we think the question and our post was fair. And so is Roberts’ response.

Glad we got that out of the way. Because when somebody has the gumption to come out – we’d much rather support them.