Fired PR director says her comment was not racist
The Brookhaven communications director who was fired after she was accused of a racist remark said Thursday she has been wrongly accused.
“Let me say this clearly — racism had absolutely nothing to do with my interactions with the photographer and his hired models at the recent Brookhaven Cherry Blossom Festival,” said Rosemary Taylor in a statement. “It had all to do with a lack of professionalism on behalf of the photographer, a conflict of interest, misuse of city funds and money spent unnecessarily.”
Taylor was fired Monday “after she exhibited conduct unbecoming of a city employee” at the festival last month, according to a statement released Tuesday by Brookhaven City Manager Marie Garrett.
Garrett did not characterize the behavior in the statement and declined further comment, saying the city was still investigating the episode.
The controversy centers on a dispute between Taylor and a photographer the city hired to photograph the festival that occurred March 27-29.
Photographer Nelson Jones said he took along two female models, one of whom was black and the other Asian. Jones said that when Taylor saw him photographing the models, she told him to stop taking pictures and said, “This is not the image I want for the city of Brookhaven.”
Jones said he took the comment as racist. The models, Dominique Jackson, 18, and Khamlee Vongvone, 17, also said they believed the comment was racist and were offended. A short time after that, a city employee asked them to leave the event.
Jones said he was photographing the models for a separate promotion for his own company, and he was not planning on handing those photos over to the city.
Taylor, in her statement, said there had been no talk of hiring models as part of the job. At the event, she said she questioned Jones as to why he was posing models in the festival’s VIP tent “against the festival’s branding” and that Jones became “agitated.”
“My mistake was getting agitated back, as he continued to tell me he was the official photographer and he had hired top models and this was going to be good for the city,” Taylor said. “I told him it wasn’t and that it was not what we wanted. It was simply a matter of the photographer not honoring the requests of what we needed for future publicity use — authentic photos of attendees at the event.”
In a separate email to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Taylor said that she had told Jones, “This is not the image we want for Brookhaven. We don’t need models for this.” She added, “I would have said the same thing if the girls were white and blonde.”
She said Jones was supposed to be capturing the festival, not working for himself.
The AJC left messages on Taylor's voice mail as it prepared its original story on the dispute, but Taylor said she did not receive any of them.
WSB-TV reporter Erica Byfield knocked on her door but Taylor refused to open it or comment for the story.
Taylor explained in an email to the AJC, “I had just gotten out of the shower when WSB came to my door. I was in complete shock. In retrospect, I should have asked Erica to wait until I could get dressed, made-up, etc., and handled it then, but hindsight is just that.”
Statement from Rosemary Taylor
Let me say this clearly — racism had absolutely nothing to do with my interactions with the photographer and his hired models at the recent Brookhaven Cherry Blossom Festival. It all had to do with a lack of professionalism on behalf of the photographer, a conflict of interest, misuse of city funds and money spent unnecessarily.
The photographer, Nelson Jones, was hired in advance of me coming to the city. The tourism manager told me Mr. Jones was a “political hire” and that he had been paid in advance for all three days of the festival plus our kick-off party.
I thought the advance payment was unusual and when I asked for specifics on the “political hire” the tourism manager simply said that the mayor and council knew him. He later said he had worked with the photographer at a motel chain when he worked in that industry.
On viewing the photographer’s work from the kick-off party, the event producer, communications manager, and I agreed that the quality of the photos was simply not acceptable. We decided to hire another photographer at extra cost to assure we had photos from the festival that were of magazine quality for publicity purposes.
In no discussions with anyone in the city’s communications department was the subject of hiring models raised prior to the event. If it had, we would have nixed that idea immediately because a park filled with thousands of people provides enough opportunities for good, authentic photos — a standard industry practice — without hiring models to stage anything. In my professional opinion, it simply wasn’t necessary.
When I questioned him about the models and why he was posing them in the festival’s VIP tent, against the festival's branding, etc., as if it was a photo shoot, he got agitated and defensive. My mistake was getting agitated back, as he continued to tell me he was the official photographer and he had hired top models and this was going to be good for the city. I told him it wasn’t and that it was not what we wanted. It was simply a matter of the photographer not honoring the requests of what we needed for future publicity use — authentic photos of attendees at the event.
In various articles, the photographer has said he was “photographing the models for a separate promotion of his own company, and he was not planning on handing those photos over to the city.”
If that was indeed the case, then he shouldn’t be asking for reimbursement for his models…and, in fact, he should return part of his advance pay to the city as he wasn’t really doing our work. He showed up several hours late on top of all this. Bringing models for his own promotional purposes was a conflict of interest.
I believe strongly that when I complained about this this photographer’s work and the tourism manager said he would not hire him again, that the photographer saw the end of his money from the city and blamed me. Thus, a completely fabricated racism accusation towards me, while generating tons of publicity for the photographer and his models.
Anyone who knows me knows that this accusation is untrue. My main concern was for the City of Brookhaven when I saw a blatant misuse of the festival brand and potential waste of city funds. I stick to my professional decision behind the reasons not to utilize the photographer’s services.
Response from photographer Nelson Jones
The former communications director, Rosemary Taylor, is not in a position to comment on anyone’s professionalism – not a person, not a company or a municipality. Her professionalism, as a public official, should have made her think twice before she made a racial overture to two ethnic teens. What Taylor did was broke the public trust, and she owes those two ethnic teens a great apology. Rosemary Taylor is not the image of Brookhaven.
