Man defends comments about Wis. news anchor's weight

LA CROSSE, Wis. - The man who criticized a Wisconsin news anchor for her weight is standing by his remarks even after she took to the airways in a four-minute message about the personal attack.

Kenneth Krause sent an email to WKBT-TV’s Jennifer Livingston addressing her weight and told her that he hopes she doesn't consider herself a suitable example for young people, especially girls. Livingston addressed the subject during a segment on her show Tuesday , calling the writer a bully. In the report — which has gotten more than 265,000 views on YouTube as of Thursday — Livingston never identified the sender of the email.

Now Krause is speaking out to defend his remarks, which have faced scrutiny after national media outlets featured the story Wednesday. After declining an invitation to appear on WKBT, Krause issued a statement, which the station aired .

Krause issued the following statement:

Given this country's present epidemic of obesity and the many truly horrible diseases related thereto, and considering Jennifer Livingston's fortuitous position in the community, I hope she will finally take advantage of a rare and golden opportunity to influence the health and psychological well-being of Coulee Region children by transforming herself for all of her viewers to see over the next year, and, to that end, I would be absolutely pleased to offer Jennifer any advice or support she would be willing to accept.

To watch a video of Livingston’s segment, click on the player below. (Note to mobile and tablet users: Open story in a browser to watch the video.)