The wife of former New York Rangers goalie Mike Dunham recently filed a reported $4 million lawsuit against CBS, Paramount, and WBZ-TV in Boston. Former WBZ anchor Kate Merrill filed the suit Aug. 5, 14 months after she abruptly left the station without publicly stating a reason.
Merrill was a news anchor and morning show host for 20 years at WBZ, and an Emmy Award winner. Her lawsuit claims race and gender discrimination, which led to a public demotion in May 2024 that was “career ending,” per the filing.
Her lawsuit contends she was accused by the station of “microaggressions and unconscious bias” against two Black colleagues. As a result, Merrill was taken off WBZ’s daily morning show and re-assigned to weekend nights. Instead of accepting the demotion, Merrill quit her job.
Dunham’s wife believes she was targeted by the station, in part, because she informed meteorologist Jason Mikell, who is Black, in a text that he mispronounced the name of a Massachusetts town in his weathercast. This came after Mikell allegedly “made an inappropriate sexual innuendo about” Merrill “on air” in February 2024 when he “implied that Ms. Merrill and her co-anchor had sexual relations at a gazebo.”
Mikell was apparently not punished for his comments. Merrill then complained to Human Resources that Mikell lashed out at her verbally on the studio set after her text. But shortly after she was demoted because Mikell and another Black colleague accused her of racial bias.
Merrill’s complaint states that she was a victim of a “DEI agenda” by Paramount, the parent company of WBZ. Paramount stopped its DEI programs earlier this year to gain favor with the FCC, which then approved the company’s $8 billion merger with Skydance.
Mike Dunham played 10 NHL seasons, 2 with Rangers
Dunham and Merrill married in 2000, when he was in the middle of his NHL playing career with the Nashville Predators. He was traded to the Rangers in December 2002 after it was determined Mike Richter would miss the rest of the season due to a concussion.
As it turned out, Richter never played another NHL game and retired after the 2002-03 season.
Dunham took over the No. 1 role from 19-year-old Dan Blackburn and was excellent for the Rangers the rest of that season. In 43 starts, Dunham was 19-17-5 with a 2.29 goals-against average, .924 save percentage and five shutouts.
Despite Dunham’s solid play, the Rangers failed to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2002-03, nor the next season, when he was 16-30-6 with a 3.03 GAA, .896 save percentage and two shutouts in 57 games.
After the lockout wiped out the 2004-05 season, Dunham moved on to the Atlanta Thrashers and New York Islanders for one season each. The Rangers began the Henrik Lundqvist era in goal in 2005-06.
Dunham wasn’t the only one in his family to make it professionally in New York. Merrill was a reporter on WNBC-TV in New York for one year before beginning her long-term gig at WBZ in Boston.
After his playing career, Dunham was the Islanders goalie coach for nine seasons. He’s currently the goalie development coach for the Boston Bruins.
In 394 NHL games with the New Jersey Devils, Predators, Rangers, Thrashers and Islanders, Dunham was 141-178-5 with 39 ties, a 2.74 GAA, .908 save percentage and 19 shutouts.
