“They got goth chick news in Alabama now”: Local news anchor goes viral over tattoos and piercing

A viral video showing a "goth chick" news anchor in Alabama has sent social media into a discussion about how trends and stereotypes interplay with different parts of the U.S.

The conversation kicked off with a video shared to X on February 16 of a young woman with dark hair, tattoos, and a nose piercing sitting at a news desk sharing an update about Lockheed Martin's missile production under the current administration.

"They got goth chick news in Alabama now," reads the caption from @Czar_Of_Silly.

Goth chick news in Alabama

News anchors with visible tats and facial piercings aren't something you generally see in the U.S., but, contrary to some initial assumptions, Alabama isn't forging some radical new path with its local networks. 

In reality, this is student anchor Avery Lewis working at a college news station—Troy University.

And whether her look can be described as "goth" is definitely its own debate. "We need to take away the word 'goth' from the general population," wrote X user @opalthedoor77.

"We’re gonna have to put a pause on calling people and things goth until we figure out what the [expletive] is going on," said @quartzmorrigan.

Social media reactions

The tone of the original tweet appeared to be interpreted by some as surprise that anyone with a whiff of "alt" to them could be found in Alabama.

The record was very quickly set straight, as people pointed out a few different factors. This included the fact that alternative styles are far from new in the south, and actually tend to be more prominent there than some folks seem to think.

X user @PanasonicDX4500 wrote, "people don’t realize what a foothold goths have in the south. It’s like one of those countries with a protected minority that’s entitled to 5% of the national delegates."

@lost_nomad__ shared a similar sentiment, saying, "Social stereotypes haven’t quite caught up yet to the new reality. You are far more likely to see blue hair dye now in a trailer park than a college campus."

"Virtually every 'alternative' style of the 2000s and 2010s lives on for the most part in America B," wrote @gracecthdralprk. "I saw more people in the Invader Zim Hot Topic scene style in rural Ohio than I did in Chicago."

People did ultimately get so focused on debating the meaning of "goth" and defending the existence of a goth/alt/etc population in the south that most skipped over the more interesting bit of the whole thing:

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