Erick Adame, the Emmy-nominated TV weatherman fired last year by Spectrum News NY1 in New York, made a return to social media yesterday after a four-month absence.
In September, Adame revealed his employment termination. He said he had been compulsively enjoying adult webcam chats with other men over a period of time. Unbeknown to him, some of these videos were recorded. Someone sent the videos to his employer and his mother.
“My psychiatrist calls my actions ‘compulsive behavior,’ others would call them reckless, stupid or brazen. I’m not in a position to argue with any of these descriptions,” he said in a lengthy, September Instagram post explaining what had happened.
“Despite being a public figure and being on television in the biggest market in the country in front of millions of people five days a week for more than a decade and a half, I secretly appeared on an adult webcam website,” he continued.
“On this site, I acted out my compulsive behaviors, while at home, by performing on camera for other men. It was 100% consensual on both of our parts. I wasn’t paid for this, and it was absurd of me to think I could keep this private. Nonetheless, my employer found out and I was suspended and then terminated.”
Adame said he hoped another broadcaster would consider hiring him and making use of his years of experience. He has remained offline since then. However, he posted a new video to Instagram just yesterday.
View this post on Instagram
“Sexual predators”
Adame said it had been “a rough couple of months” for him and recounted the circumstance of his dismissal. And what happened next.
“That news gave … sexual predators the idea that I wanted to be exploited and humiliated as if it were something I enjoyed,” he said. “A lot of these people are out there searching for internet for whatever pictures or videos of me they can find. But I want to be absolutely clear about something tonight: I never wanted any of those images or videos to ever be recorded or kept or saved or shared in any way. And I don’t want any kind of this attention that I’ve been receiving.”
“What I do want is for these people to leave me alone,” he continued. “I’m hurt. And I wish people would focus more on the fact these videos exist when they shouldn’t exist, as opposed to the salacious details that people have been really going on and on and on about.”
“I assumed that once I closed my laptop that anything that happened on camera would only exist in memory. But instead, those video sessions were recorded, by people and sometimes these bots.”
“And these bots are scripts that automatically run on a computer or website that record those webcam sessions and post them on a website, and that’s all done without your knowledge or permission. And many of these websites then have a download available to download the entire video, for a fee! Someone out there makes money off you doing sexual activity on camera without you even knowing.”
“So I say this again, to all the sexual predators out there: I did not want any of these pictures or videos out there, and I don’t want them shared. I don’t enjoy being humiliated and treated like a sexual object.”
“The internet is a very dangerous place”
Adame continued, “And to everyone else, obviously … you don’t need me to tell you this, the internet is a very dangerous place. Anything you put out there on the internet, is going to be out there forever. There are sexual predators who are ready to exploit you like they have been doing to me.”
“I still think that the real story here should be that there are these websites out there that are recording you or taking screenshots of you while you are on camera, without you even knowing.”
Adame said many of these websites are hosted overseas and out of US jurisdiction. He says he’s read other stories from people on Reddit: Individuals depressed or suicidal after taking part in an adult webcam chat that was recorded without their knowledge.
He ended by wishing people a happy New Year and saying he hopes people will be able to see him on camera again in 2023.
In short, if you take part in adult webcam chat, be someone might record and share them without your knowledge. So be careful.
New love
On a more positive note, Adame posted another Instagram message. This one shared the fact that despite the year’s many challenges, he found love in 2022!
View this post on Instagram
Many of Adame’s followers posted supportive messages, informing him he’s a missed presence on their TV screens. Here’s hoping he can make a return to the camera soon.
tjack47
I find it incredibly sad this sexual shaming. I don’t care if people say he should’ve known better. It’s none of his employer’s business. I doubt I would consider his behavior compulsive rather sexually gratifying. I’m glad he’s found love. I just know from my age for too many years we’ve been shamed. It’s caused blame and guilt that was unnecessary. Society has a great deal of responsibility here. I don’t care what my weather person does or prefers sexually. I just care if they are good at producing and anchoring the weather segment. He has all my best wishes and support.
dave3137
Entirely to the point. Well said.
GlobeTrotter
Sorry, but this has absolutely nothing to do with sexual shaming. As weatherman he’s the public face and spokesman for his employer, he literally represents their brand. No employer, no company, no shareholder wants their brand devalued by millions of viewers googling the salacious sex videos of their star weatherman every time he gives the weather forecast. Case in point, thousands of other weathermen and news readers from all across America are probably indulging in all sorts of raunchy sex and filthy fetishes as we speak – only they have the good sense to exercise judgment and keep their private activities private. And lo and behold, no one cares about their sexuality and no one cares what type of sex they get up at night.
This is about poor judgment on the part of a public figure, not sex shaming!
Eternal.Cowboy
@GlobeTrotter
So you start with ” this has absolutely nothing to do with sexual shaming” and then jump into sexual shaming. I’m guessing you don’t see the irony.
Openminded
Globe, as an old man, I’m told almost daily to “get with the times, this is how it’s done now”. Granted, it is dangerous to flip on the cam, willy nilly, and show someone that you don’t know your junk and such. You seem to imply that if he had simply met up with someone, one on one, and exhibited his actions in person, all would be fine. In an age where I will bet there are more online text messages per day than actual person to person conversations, why is it deemed unusual or wrong to engage in a one on one online sharing of videos? It’s the person on the other end of his online session who was immoral.
GlobeTrotter
@Eternal.Cowboy: Again, this is NOT about sex, but rather a lack of sound judgment! No one cares what type of sex Adame or any on air personality engages in. He was fired because his poor judgment made his position as corporate face for his employer’s brand untenable. Believe it or not, there are such things as boundaries and responsible behavior, something becoming a vanishing rarity in today’s culture.
Look, I support everyone’s effort to find personal fulfillment, and if that means getting double fisted on only fans, then more power to you! However there are responsible ways to achieve personal fulfillment that also respect the right of your employer and work colleagues not to become involved in your private sexual activities. Adame lost his job for failing to respect this right, not for having an active sex life.
GlobeTrotter
@Openminded: “…why is it deemed unusual or wrong to engage in a one on one online sharing of videos?”
It’s neither wrong nor unusual to engage in online sharing of videos, however as a PUBLIC FIGURE your actions have an impact on third parties (your employer, your work colleagues, company shareholders, etc.) who might not wish to share the consequences of your online sexual activities. Again, the issue here is the exercising of proper judgment, and not sexual preferences or activities!
humble charlie
it should be required of every newscaster etc. on tv to do a pornographic video. perhaps this will break the ice.
ShaneG1970
@ GlobeTrotter, I think you’re trying awfully hard to get everyone to agree with you. I don’t think very many of us here do. Spectrum’s “brand” wasn’t hurt by this man’s behavior. Spectrum is hurt every day by their unreliable internet service already. There is nothing wrong with what he did and no one cares except his uptight employer.
Eternal.Cowboy
@Globe
From your comment “salacious sex videos”, “all sorts of raunchy sex”. “filthy fetishes”
For someone that doesn’t think it’s about sex you brought it up a lot and in every case described it in pejorative terms despite have no actual knowledge of what the content is.
It’s super easy to just say “he has poor judgment” without interjecting your puritanical views but you didn’t. You are sex shamming.
Cheers, boomer.
Caelestius
Yikes, GlobeTrotter! You are so defending a nonexistent principle. There is no patriotic duty in America to represent your employer with the image they determine! It was f’d-up when the Republicans dragged us through Bill Clinton’s sex life, and it’s still wrong. In a tolerant, secular democracy, there is no justification for our private lives to become objects of public disapproval, religious inquisition or measure of our job performance. It’s troubling that you, a gay man, would side with a powerful news corporation’s sex panic against another gay man, especially one who’s handled this humiliation with a lot of dignity.
LumpyPillows
Sorry, Globe. It is none of your business or his employer’s. We all have sex, it is hypocritical for anyone to judge someone else for having what we all do, in some form, just because we see actually what they did. If he had done this is a public park, that would be an issue. He did it in a space that where only other consenting adults wanted to be and had to make the effort to see it. No crime.
The real crime is the ass that used it to hurt him. That’s vindictive. Probably against the law and if not, it should be.
seakayak904
Well said and ditto.
Sister Bertha Bedderthanyu
Erick, do yourself a favor and just get on with your life. What happened happened and there is nothing you can do or say to change it. Were I advising you I would tell you to let this be your last post and to stay the hell off of social media and sex sites where you go cam to cam. You can already see where its gotten you so far. You’ve probably figured out who did it but realize there is nothing you can do about it because it won’t get you your job back. It had already become a faded memory in the minds of many and if you wait just a little longer it will be long forgotten and then you can move forward, hopefully without this incident ever seeing the light of day again.
anton
Unless there was something on camera linking his activities to Spectrum or it was directly affecting his job performance this strikes me as wrongful termination. The notion that Spectrum was somehow affected by this is silly.
I hope he’s exploring legal options.
dave3137
Entirely agree — though he may simply want to move on from that as well as from those who seek to exploit him in other ways.
GlobeTrotter
In the U.S. it’s entirely legal to terminate any employee that damages your corporate brand. This is a very well established matter of law spanning decades.
bachy
@Globetrotter: I’m boggled that a television weatherman would have no understanding around the public accessibility of webcam sex performances. Really? You think it’s all just a private exchange that magically disappears when you close your laptop? Men and women, gay and straight, have been reporting about being blackmailed in this manner for at least a decade. It’s not rocket science.
My take? Erick Adame obviously has a self-sabotaging exhibitionism kink. Probably hated himself for hating his high-salary job, and was looking for a way out that would also be humiliating/degrading as self-punishment.
LumpyPillows
It is legal for an employer, in most states, to fire you without a reason. So, there is that. Firing a long-term, well-performing employee for something legal, like sex, is archaic, prudish and mean-spirited. They could have just ignored it – like some many things they choose to ignore.
As far as Spectrum’s corporate brand, lol, their customer service destroyed that decades ago. Having a spicey weatherman is an improvement.
GREATGLORYHOLER
This was done by someone that wanted to see Erik’s Life Crumble. Someone tried to do the same thing to me back in 2010 when I had Private Glory Hole inside my Home and Made Videos on X Tube. A Nephew of a Customer I delivered Meals to Contacted My Boss, The Company’s Owner and my Mother ( My Mom Helped Design and Build the Glory Hole) To let them know what I was doing and sent the all the Website Information and They ALL Told Him That What I Did On My Own Time was My Own Busyness and there was nothing they were going to do about it.
humble charlie
great satirical comment. you made my day.
G R
EVERY on-air personality signs a contract and within that contract is a morality clause, it’s unfair that someone decided to send those images/videos to his employer but he’s a public figure that was giving out his personal information ONLINE.
He should stop pursuing any efforts at finding whomever did that and just move on with his life. I love how people responsible for their stupid actions then whine about the consequences later.
Openminded
But were his actions truly “immoral”. No holier than thou, church goers would have seen these pics/vids in normal internet surfing, just like these same people won’t get drunk if they stay out of the liquor store. Your statement ” I love how people responsible for their stupid actions then whine about the consequences later.”, is true, but we all “whine” about issues we have in America, yet we continue to be Americans. My point is, he did act recklessly, but he didn’t film himself and send those videos out to people like some people send unsolicited dick pics and it doesn’t make him any less of a weatherperson. Morality can have very different definitions between different people.
GlobeTrotter
“My point is, he did act recklessly…”
And that’s exactly the problem! His reckless act had undesirable consequences for third parties (his work colleagues, company shareholders, etc.), which is why he was terminated. He wasn’t fired for his sexual proclivities, but rather for his reckless behavior.
As a public figure, he had a duty to exercise caution before having online sex.
Tad
I love the US but I really hate that so many Americans are sexually repressed but seem to have double standards when it is convenient. Your shrink may think you were hurting yourself, but you weren’t hurting anyone online.
Hell, if people don’t care about a politician having e tra martial affairs and paying them hush money, and bragging about grabbing women’s genitals, why should a news station arbitrarily fire him. It wasn’t like national news anchors that exposed themselves to co-workers or secually assaulted them.
It is a shame that the person sent it to his mom. The fact that it was his mom and his boss appears to either be someone from his past trying to get even or someone who wanted him, felt rejected, so decided to try to ruin his life.
jaimedance3
I honestly do not understand why you have to type every word for word that is said in a video that all we have to do is just click on it and watch it why do we have to read it as well stop quoting word for word everything that’s in the video just post the video and let us watch it then comment about the video in your article don’t write the entire speech that is given in the video it’s stupid!
Peter
Meet my little friends: . , ; ? Try using them sometime — if it isn’t exhausting.
ericr_wilson
This was a lapse in judgment. He should have known better. Hopefully, he will eventually land softly. No one should lose employment due to their sexuality – but this situation is unique.
dwgandy
News flash. This was not unique. There are still employers out there that will fire someone due to their sexuality. It is still perfectly legal to do this in many states. As, I have told people, LGBT people are practically the last minority that it is perfectly legal to discriminate against. This does not just include employment.
As far as the morality clause those still occur when people are hired at all different levels of employment. I worked for a major Upscale Specialty store for almost 30 years and when I was hired, I read the employment application completely. You agreed by signing the application to their morality clause, that included offenses for doing drugs or being arrested for a DUI. The company did not want to see their name associated with you if you did something. Was it enforced? From what I could see, it was selectively enforced.
Neoprene
He’s sexy, except for all the victim stuff.
humble charlie
being unqualified to give a comment on his mental health at the time he did this, nonetheless, since it has never stopped others to give their unprofessional opinion, this is obviously a case of ego-manic behavior where the person is so besotted with himself that he is delirous with self-love. i can identify with his plight.
KyleMichelSullivan
Ooooh, a healthy young man having anonymous safe-sex online. How icky. Never-mind he was doing it on his own time, in his own home, and did not intend for it to be recorded. It’s his own damn fault it got sent to his mom and employer, and the Puritans at Spectrum are right to fire him.
Jesus Christ, many of the comments posted here remind me too goddamned much of the people who blame women for being raped. “What were you wearing? Why did you have too much to drink? Didn’t you put yourself in that situation? You’re only crying rape because you got pregnant. We can’t blame the rapist for what he did since you let him think it was okay.”
Spare me the obnoxious moralizing about this, lads, and just admit that you just find the idea of men having online sex icky. That’s why you’re defending the homophobic actions of a corporation and heaping more abuse on this guy. And the more of it you can do, the better. It’s truly disgusting.
Doug
KyleMichelSullivan, I totally agree with you and can’t believe the moralizing here. Believe me, if there were an attached link to the photos and videos here, I’m willing just about everyone here clutching their pearls would be checking them out immediately. I would have a lot more respect for this guy had he just taken responsibility for simply being on a sex site and told everybody if they didn’t like it where they could go. Instead he’s now trying to appear like some kind of victim, and I’m sure a large part of that is because he was looking for employment (it obviously worked). How many people here who have been on sex sites in the past (or even THIS site) are employed in jobs that would have fired them if that he been revealed? Plenty, I’m sure.
Osterfool
As a non-American, I find it strange that Americans seem to be so obsessed with sexuality. It’s like he purposely advertised his private videos during a live weather broadcast. And the finger-pointing along with the smug holier than thou attitudes of I’m right, he’s wrong so there!
In my country this would be mostly a non-issue. He would still be employed. Even if they tried to fire him for moral reasons, they’d have a tough legal fight on their hands. People would giggle when they see him in the street, maybe make a wise-crack about it. It would be treated more as an “Oops, close your webcam in future, mate” than a “you’ve ruined your life and dragged this company’s name through the mud”, type-thing.
Toofie
I wonder who still is going after him? It’s been months.
It’s too bad someone was clearly out to get him. But like people have stated, he was sloppy.
phillycap
It’s wrong Highly wrong to do what was done to him. But he’s a public figure and while no one is interested if I engaged in his behavior he’s a local celebrity. It’s back to the what was he thinking. And it’s a big price to pay for his poor choices. I hope he gets employed soon.
DrJones
So when this all came out a few months ago the other side is that he had been engaging in “meth-fueled orgies” that were broadcast, and then leaked, and NY1 got mailed the evidence. They supposedly “swept it under the rug” as a first pass but essentially gave him a warning that if it became a recurring issue, he would be terminated, not because they cared about what sexual things he did on his own time, it was that they would be employing someone doing meth “on air” (in the recordings) and that doesn’t jive with being a “TV news/weather personality.” Yes, it sucks someone revenge porn’d him to his employer and mother, yes he can do sexually whatever he wants as long as it isn’t hurting someone or illegal, but it comes across disingenuous to make himself to be solely victim when he was involved and it was more about it being a repeated pattern and less about his employer governing his sex life. What does sound promising is he is apparently at least taking ownership of his compulsions and getting professional help.
cuteguy
Wasn’t it against the law whoever recorded him without his consent or knowledge?! Regardless he’s obviously troubled if he’s doing this and happy he’s getting the help he obviously needs
LumpyPillows
Might have been against the law. Depends. Didn’t Hulk Hogan sue and destroy Gawker for releasing video of him having sex?
winemaker
Sad to hear of this blatant invasion of news weastherman Eric Adame’s privacy. That said this should be a warning to anyone out there who thinks sharing nude photos or provocative or suggestive photos online is fun and doesn’t have any serious consequences, let this be a warning to them. The internet is forever and everythingand anything posted will be there forever to be downloaded or viewed. Posting nude selfies or nude photos on line is something young immature high schoolers often do as they don’t think ahead to their future. Aside from the embarrassment of having nude or suggestive photos seen by friends and or family members, stuff lke this will screw you later in life when searching for a good job or applying to law school or medical school. On the other hand, this guy being an adult and a television weatherman should have known these suggestive photos would likeky be uploaded and thus available on the internet, This isn’t like secret camera that shows guys showering in the gym shower and nude in the locker room taken by some pervert with a hidden camera and posted online. This explains the sign in my gym locker room: no cameras or cell phones in the locker room or shower area.
Paulie P
some of you have said he should have known better, the point is he didn’t know they were filming him, that said…. are you telling him to not live his life. so after work or before work he did what so many do.. they flirt, they &uck, they #uck… they go on grindr or scruff. they get off.
so he was getting off the way every one here does and someone took advantage. he should have known better doesn’t work in this case. he was simply a gay man doing what we all do.
ClassicConfusion
It’s seems like a lot of people are missing the point. When someone goes on these webcam sites there is a reasonable and widespread expectation that once you shut your camera off it’s gone forever. People all over the world participate on these websites thinking just that.
The truth is that there are bots hosted overseas that automatically record and save these videos. The videos are on websites where you can browse through them and download them for a fee. Just looking through these websites there are so many people and videos (gay, straight, male, female, solo, groups) and I’m sure the subjects of these videos have no idea they exist. There is even a very active subreddit dedicated to this. These people wanted to go on camera but did not want to publish videos of themselves.
And he is a victim. To this day people are sharing videos publicly, asking for the videos, and some are even offering to sell the videos. People are emailing him and direct messaging him on social media, saying disgusting things and objectifying him and asking for pictures/videos/sex. He never wanted this. He never wanted videos to exist and never wanted this attention.
When someone goes on cam there are usually only a handful of people watching in an audience that includes much more than just the United States. These people may want the sexual attention in the moment but they do not want to be defined by it.
LumpyPillows
Sex is great. Every normal person does it. Every normal person thinks about it A LOT. It’s normal. Making people feel ashamed or afraid because of it is wrong and leads to mental issues. I find this type of thing to be archaic and hypocritical.
quantum
“During the broadcast, Adame gives out his personal cell phone number and his home address, encouraging anyone who may be watching locally to come by his house for an early-morning sexual encounter.
At one point, a viewer uses the chat feature to post Adame’s full, legal name — the same name that he used on-air at Spectrum News NY1. Adame acknowledges the comment, and the broadcast continues for another 40 minutes.
“At this point, I’m pretty sure my first name, last name, address, has all f–king been out there, and this p—y still hasn’t been f–ked,” Adame complains.”
GlobeTrotter
I keep explaining that Adame was fired for his unfortunate lapses in judgment and NOT for having a sex life, yet it seems the majority here are so blinded by ideology that they seem utterly incapable of critical thinking. No one begrudges Adame his sexual lifestyle or proclivities, but when his private life starts having a negative affect in the workplace, that’s where most employers draw the line.
If he’d exercise better judgment and participated ANONYMOUSLY in online sex chats/videos, as I’m sure most celebrities do, then we wouldn’t be having this conversation and he’d still be happily employed. But no, everyone wants to twist this into some fantastical story about the gay innocent babe lost in the woods where he’s victimized and oppressed by the big, bad, corporate wolf.
musicman644
This is scary…people’s sex lives are both complicated and contradictory and fantasies are just that…fantasies…it’s a part of being human. But for some reason, it’s considered normal to have a private fantasy/sex life, but you turn into a slut and a disreputable person the moment anyone finds out.
Having said that, if he really didn’t want to be discovered, why didn’t he just cover his face or point the camera away from his face? He clearly must have enjoyed the sex, whether it was a compulsion or not; otherwise he wouldn’t have needed to do it.
Exhibitionism is one of those common sexual fantasies that few people will admit to, because of the shame that results if anyone were to find out.
But I totally ympathize with this guy (in fact I can relate to him)…and as long as he was doing a good job, he did not deserve to be fired…
footwork61
He says he did not intend for any of his activities to be made public or used in a for-profit setting. Therefore, he was essentially fired for being a victim of his naivete and, possibly, of sexual harassment, stalking, and invasion of privacy.
A supportive employer would have gone after the perpetrators, not the victim.
DK
People have sex. Guys have penises. Ladies have boobs and vaginas. People jerk off.
Who cares? Only in America is all of this something that’s scaaaaaary and shameful and taboo and against “morality clauses.” In Japan, I was amused to turn on the TV and see game shows, broadcast to the whole country, that involved sex acts and full frontal nudity. Nobody cared. Nobody had meltdowns about “the kids.” Sex and nudity are not a big deal, it’s just part of life. The attitude is similar in some European countries too.
But America is still self-righteous, right wing, Puritanical, hypocritical and backwards. Hence why our country can’t progress: no healthcare, no paid leave, starvation wages, worsening climate disaster, no universal childcare, and no functioning Congress as the radical right extremist party yt voters keep electing keeps proving incompetent and chaotic. So of course we’re sex-negative, repressed, judgmental lunatics still freaking out about sex and nudity. Of course.
GayConservMan
Oh honey, SEXUAL PREDATORS???? lol. That’s a slap in the face of people who have actually experienced sexual assault. HE WENT ONLINE AND BROADCAST HIMSELF!!!
Goodness gracious drama queen. Just say “hey, I screwed up. I’m sorry.” And move on.