The Desk appreciates the support of readers who purchase products or services through links on our website. Learn more...

Fired New York weatherman launches subscription service

After job offers apparently fizzled out, Erick Adame is hoping the Internet will pay for his daily forecasts.

After job offers apparently fizzled out, Erick Adame is hoping the Internet will pay for his daily forecasts.

Former Spectrum News NY1 meteorologist Erick Adame appears in an undated handout image.
Former Spectrum News NY1 meteorologist Erick Adame appears in an undated handout image. (Photo courtesy Spectrum News NY1/Charter, Graphic by The Desk)

A New York meteorologist who was fired after appearing on an adult webcam service last year has launched his own subscription weather product.

Former Spectrum News NY1 weatherman Erick Adame announced the new feature during an Instagram Live video after months of providing months of online weather forecasts while on unemployment.

The service, sold directly through Adame’s personal website, costs $5 a month and promises to deliver “detailed, yet fun” forecasts delivered daily by e-mail.

“Soon, you’ll be able to see me, on camera, delivering you the forecast, just like before,” Adame said in a video posted online.

Adame was fired from Spectrum News last year after his employer became aware of an adult webcam video that was broadcast on the Internet. The video, made in December 2021, included statements by Adame in which he expressed a desire to have sex with his boss on camera, according to a copy of the video obtained by The Desk. During the broadcast, Adame provided hundreds of viewers his full name, home address and cell phone number; toward the end of the live stream, he used a marker to write the name of his employer across his chest.

Related: Fired New York weatherman appeared on adult websites for years

Shortly after his firing, Adame hired a New York-based law firm to help him uncover the identity of someone who spread copies of the broadcast on an Internet forum. The lawsuit ultimately resulted in the owner of the website turning over non-personal information about a user to Adame and his legal team. To date, no lawsuit has been filed against anyone accused of spreading Adame’s video online prior to his firing.

Adame also hired crisis manager Howard Bragman to help him secure interviews with reporters shortly after his termination from Spectrum News. Together, Adame and Bragman — who died in February — crafted a narrative that suggested the weatherman was the victim of “revenge porn,” pointing to a New York statute that prohibits anyone from sharing intimate photos or videos without the subject’s consent.

Responding to a question from The Desk, Bragman said claims that Adame spoke openly about Spectrum News and his manager during his adult live streams were “partially or wholly inaccurate,” but he declined to provide more information. In interviews published by other news outlets, Bragman claimed Adame had received a job offer from at least one other television station, and that he was openly fielding offers from other places.

Those offers — if they actually existed — appear to have quickly fizzled out. After details about Adame’s online activity were published, booking producers and reporters at a number of news outlets told The Desk they were unwilling to do follow-up stories on Adame because they felt duped by his early claims that he was the victim of revenge porn, when the audio clearly demonstrated he was exposing himself on the open Internet.

Related: Video contradicts privacy claim made by fired New York weatherman

Legal experts have also cast doubt on Adame’s claim of revenge porn. A lawyer who spoke with The Desk on background said New York’s privacy law is meant to protect people who share intimate photos of themselves with another person, with the expectation that those images will be kept between them. Adame, on the other hand, exposed himself online, on a website that anyone could access, and did so for several years. In what would be his final broadcast, Adame also told viewers that he didn’t have a problem if his co-workers at Spectrum News saw his live stream, which further complicate his privacy interests.

Adame eventually stopped claiming to be the victim of “revenge porn,” and has now tried to shift the narrative toward the Internet as a dangerous place in general. In a video posted to his Instagram account earlier this year, Adame said news reports about his firing emboldened “sexual predators” to look for copies of his videos online.

“That news only gave, what I can only call, sexual predators [an indication] that I wanted to be exploited and humiliated, as if it were something that I enjoyed,” Adame complained in the video, which has since been deleted. “To all the sexual predators out there, I did not want any of these pictures or videos out there, and I don’t want them shared. And I don’t enjoy being humiliated and being treated like a sexual object. To everyone else, obviously, a lesson learned.”

Photo of author

About the Author:

Matthew Keys

Matthew Keys covers the business of broadcast and streaming TV, radio broadcasting, social media, technology and telecommunications. A journalist for over 15 years, Matthew previously worked at Thomson Reuters, KGO-TV in San Francisco, KTXL in Sacramento and McNaughton Newspapers. He received 9 California Journalism Awards between 2018 and 2020, and is a member of IRE (Investigative Reporters and Editors).
Home » News » Industries » Television » Fired New York weatherman launches subscription service