HispanicBusiness

A Florida TV station has fired openly gay anchor Charles Perez, just days after he had filed a discrimination case against the company, in which Perez said he was demoted for reasons tied to his sexual orientation.

Perez, former host of the nationally syndicated Charles Perez Show, had been embroiled in a high-profile legal dispute with his ex-partner over allegations of domestic abuse when he was demoted July 22, according to The Miami Herald.

Perez, 46, filed a complaint against WPLG-ABC with the Miami-Dade County Equal Opportunity Board, in which he said that his supervisor criticized him for smiling too much on the air, and that he and co-anchor behaved "like girlfriends," TMZ reports.

In the complaint, Perez said it appeared the station demoted him due to its "discomfort over the increasingly high profile of my sexual orientation."

His legal dispute with his ex-partner dates back to April 3, when Perez filed a restraining order against Dennis Ricardo Pena, who had allegedly leaked a private email regarding Perez's "gender identity issues." Shortly after that, Perez charges, he began to "disappear from" promotional spots.

WPLG officials say Perez's claims are baseless.

"WPLG is disappointed that the actions of Charles Perez left us no real choice other than to terminate his employment contract," WPLG Vice President and General Manager Dave Boylan said in a statement to The Miami Herald. "WPLG emphatically denies Perez's claim of discrimination. The document he is circulating is filled with misstatements and untruths."

Perez has worked as a producer of the Ricki Lake Show and the Montel Williams Show, and appeared as an openly gay man on the first season of MTV's "The Real World."