Reporter who broke fake cut hair story has history with the family

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Mikea Turner, a Washington D.C. TV reporter who first broke the since-discredited story of an alleged assault of 12-year-old Amari Allen, tweeted over five times earlier in the day advocating for local politicians to pass a bill prohibiting discrimination based on hairstyle, the Daily Caller reported Wednesday.

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Turner was first to report that a Virginia girl, Amari Allen, was held down and had her dreadlocks cut off by a group of white classmates. The story, which was picked up by a host of major national outlets including NBC Nightly News and the New York Times, was revealed as a hoax less than 24 hours after it broke when Allen admitted she fabricated the incident.

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On September 26, the same day that she broke the story, Turner sent a series of tweets advocating on behalf of the so-called “Crown Act,” a bill that had just been introduced in Montgomery, County Maryland that prohibits discrimination based on “natural hair-styles.”

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In addition to advocating for hair-based anti-discrimination laws, Turner had also promoted a haircare product line developed by Allen’s family. In Sept. 2018, Turner ran a television segment promoting the Allen family’s cosmetic line, “Still Natural.”

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The reporter hosted Amari and the Allen family on WUSA on Sept. 29 for two segments. In the first, she asked the family details about the incident and why the school had not yet punished the alleged perpetrators. The second consisted of four people with “locs” from Richmond, Virginia — where Allen’s extended family lives — appearing on set to give Amari presents.

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