Fired over Facebook comment … or was it her hair?

It’s easy to dislike Emmitt Vascocu after reading his Facebook comment about black meteorologist Rhonda Lee.

Vascocu, a retired contractor, and proud ‘house husband,’ posted a comment on the station’s Facebook profile about Lee’s natural hairstyle. In a nutshell, Vascocu likes long hair–can’t the station buy Lee a wig?

But wait — Vascocu is a viewer, making a comment on the station’s Facebook profile page, something all viewers are encouraged to do. Vascocu is also of a different time, era and race — he couldn’t know that commenting about a black woman’s hair is off-limits.

Five days later Lee responds, and she handles Vascocu gingerly, clearly with that sensitivity in mind — that he’s an elderly white man making a comment.

Lee’s comment is  educational and overwhelmingly positive — the two exhibited social engagement at its finest.

But as soon as Lee hit that “post” button, she was fired.

Some 400 comments and a CNN interview later, the station now finds itself in hot water over its lopsided social media policy and its heavy-handed treatment of Lee.

Here’s a play-by-play over what unfolded.