As of today (Tuesday, March 25), a blog post that had initially tied Dallas City Council District 1 candidate Katrina Whatley to posts with homophobic undertones on X by the account “@DallasEnFuego” (which translates as Dallas On Fire) attacking openly gay District 1 incumbent Chad West has been removed from the DallasVoice.com website.
Local filmmaker Damien LeVeck describes his @DallasEnFuego feed on X as “Holding Dallas city bureaucrats accountable with spicy videos & memes.” He has frequently focused his attention on West’s campaign finances and how the council member spends his campaign funds.
The initial Dallas Voice blog post in December was based on information from West supporters who specifically tied the social media posts to Whatley’s campaign. When supporters of Whatley objected to their candidate’s characterization as being anti-LGBTQ, I — as managing editor — instructed that the blog post be removed from the blog until we could contact Katrina Whatley or her campaign for a response.
A few weeks later, when we had not received a response from the Whatley campaign and were receiving numerous requests for the blog to be published again, I instructed that all references to Katrina Whatley and her campaign be removed and that the blog be published again. In the interest of transparency and fairness, I should have made sure to note that the blog had been changed to remove those references, and I failed to do that.
As debate and conversation over the blog — in its original form and in its amended form — have continued, I have made the decision to remove it from our DallasVoice.com website and from Dallas Voice social media pages. We will continue to reach out to Whatley, offering her the opportunity to respond.
While it was a grave mistake to publish allegations linking Katrina Whatley to @DallasEnFuego’s attacks on Chad West without first getting a response from Whatley, Dallas Voice continues to maintain that the @DallasEnFuego posts in question are undeniably homophobic, although not necessarily blatantly so.
Questioning a candidate or incumbent regarding their campaign spending and pointing out possible ethical and legal issues is not just a right for any reporter or media outlet (‘citizen journalist,” “watchdog” or professional), it is our duty. However, it is certainly possible to raise those questions without the sly, wink-wink homophobia of LeVeck’s references to enemas and jockstraps in his posts regarding West. It’s hard to buy any arguments that those references were anything other than a thinly-veiled effort to demean or insult West based on his sexual orientation.
— Tammye Nash
This is Katrina Whatley. No one has reached out to me … not ever.
Thank you for letting me know that Ms. Whatley. I apologize for the confusion on that point.
How is there confusion? You didn’t confirm that someone actually reached out to her before you posted this letter?
Wowzer. Consider resigning and finding someone with a journalism degree to run whatever you want to call whatever this is—-since it’s not a legitimate publication.
Embarrassing.
lol have you contacted Katrina yet? Or were you just saying you contacted her to sound good on paper? This whole thing is unreal… look forward to your coverage of Chad’s multiple ethics complaints!
Thank you, Tammye. As a reference, you may ALWAYS contact Katrina by using the contact link on her website http://www.KatrinaforDallas.com or by sending email to Katrinafordallas@gmail.com
Don’t hold your breath. These aren’t serious people. This publication literally just makes sh*t up.
Still NO. The “debate” should not continue. There is no debate! Do you know where Katrina was on Sunday? She was at the Queer & Trans Liberation March with me and other allies and our LGBT family and friends. And do you know what she did when my queer teen burst into tears during the emotional rally speeches? She reached out to hug her, crying as well, and telling her everything was going to be alright. Instead of “continuing this debate” how about a spotlight article on Katrina Whatley and her ties to the LGBT community? Once your staff finally does reach out to her, maybe you’ll find out for yourself. I hope you do. 🙏🏼
When I started Oak Cliff Earth Day 18 years ago, Katrina was one of my volunteers . We have remained friends ever since. Definitely not a homophobic bone in her body.
Has Chad ever apologized — to Katrina and the readers — for making that up (or to be more kind, jumping to wild conclusions with no basis)?
For context, look at some of Dallas En Fuego’s videos about other Dallas City Councilmembers. Edgy and controversial is his style. Have any of those candidates accused their opponents of being in cahoots with him? Not ro my knowledge. It’s pretty obvious he’s wildcard. He brought up good questions but in a tacky way and unfortunately, as is often the case in these situations, that has turned into the bigger story.
Too little, too late. You are an embarrassment to journalism. You owe a complete and full apology to Katrina. How are we supposed to take you seriously when you don’t even reach out to her after you say you have? This is patently absurd!
You say it’s your duty to question an incumbent about his spending and his voting–so go do that. Go ask Chad why he’s constantly siding with developers, allowing for commercial establishments to be run in houses in single family neighborhoods and why he’s OK with “by right” zoning, adding multiplexes next to single family homes.
For all of En Fuego’s issues, at least he’s asking important questions and trying to shed light on corruption since “journalists” like you refuse to do the job.
And when the the Texas Ethics Commission finally comes out with their findings on Chad’s spending, we all look forward to reading it in your “newspaper” or whatever you call yourself.
You state that Dallas En Fuego “has frequently focused his attention on West’s campaign finances and how the council member spends his campaign funds.” He made ONE video about it, amongst 30 other videos he has made about all the other councilmembers. In fact, he’s spent far less time on Chad as compared to others on council such as Adam Bazaldua or Paula Blackmon. If you’re going to try to rectify bad journalism and incorrect facts via a letter from the editor, you should try to do so without more bad journalism and more incorrect facts. All you had to do was open the dude’s X account and look at his videos and see what they are all about. Stop continuing to rely on whatever West’s team is feeding you. They’ve clearly led you astray before and they are continuing to do so.
Katrina here again. Despite providing my contact information above, I still have not heard from anyone at The Dallas Voice. A quick Google search will give you my number (Realtors are the easiest people to locate), but here it is again 972-251-0494. Thank you.
Hi Katrina. Tammye Nash again. This past week we have been wrapped up in producing our Readers Voice Awards issue which came out on Friday. Since I intend to be the one to speak with you rather than having a reporter contact you, I chose to wait until I was done with that issue, so that I had plenty of time to talk to you. Thanks.
Katrina-
They are waiting for Chad West to give them permission to call you. I wouldn’t hold your breath.
And I’m really sorry you were defamed in this way. You didn’t deserve it and we all know your heart (even Chad).
As an ally, I’m personally offended he used this means to deflect from his own campaign and ethics problems at your expense. Hang in there.
The Dallas Voice is not journalism. That’s laughable! At best, the Dallas Voice is an opinion page. But honestly, it’s propaganda!
Katrina here again – still no one has tried to contact me. OK. The silence is heard. Thanks.
Hey Katrina. This is Tammye Nash. I sent emails yesterday thru your campaign website and through what I think is your relator email…. If you haven’t gotten any emails from me I obviously am not using the correct email address to try and reach you.
My email is nash@dallasvoice.com. Please send me an email with the correct contact info please.
First Katrina Whatley, then Melissa Kingston–what the heck is going on with this publication? You are doing a disservice to the LGBTQ community by constantly accusing people of being homophobic when they are clearly not. Shame on you!