Sixty-two percent of American adults want to be their own boss. Anthony Slaughter was one of them — until he actually did it. His current obsession? Freedom.
Anthony Slaughter on the cover of our Obsession Issue. Cover design by Evan Sult. Photo by Geoff Story. Styling and assistance by Shane Cherry
You might know Slaughter from his presence on TVs from St. Louis to San Francisco during his 17-year career in meteorology. You might know him from his recent appearances on podcasts like Pondoff’s Anonymous or The Rundown with Rene Knott. You might know him from his personal moments on air, like sweet clips of his twin sons or the viral moment when he groaned “I’m so hungry” on air, thinking his mic was off. But, like many Saint Louisans, you probably know him first as the beloved and beautiful weatherman who used to work at Channel 5.
Speaking to Slaughter, it’s easy to see why he was so successful on TV. He’s got a smile that practically screams “recommended by 9 out of 10 dentists” and a steady voice reminiscent of an Easy-Bake Oven ad. But as his caught-on-mic moment revealed, he’s human, just like the rest of us.
In his Zoom background, Slaughter’s house looks like any other St. Louisan’s: beige walls, traditional furniture, and teenage sons slouching in and out of the frame. He sports a black flat-brim cap, perhaps to hide his grays or to help him appear stylish as a man in his 40s.
Somehow, neither seems likely; Slaughter doesn’t come off like a man who needs to try very hard to be a cool dad. He is almost AI-like in his deliberately composed demeanor, yet disarmingly real at the same time. “I’m pretty deep,” says Slaughter, with such earnestness that one has no choice but to lean in, platitude be damned.
Despite the polish, Slaughter’s all about genuine connection. His recent Facebook post about ignoring the hate has over 300 comments from devoted followers, all offering emphatic support. A surprisingly high number of these comments are liked by Slaughter himself. In his podcast appearances, he says the word “feeling” more times than most of us hear all the men in our lives say in a month — combined.
Many viewers have only seen glimpses of this soulfulness during his time on the news. Now, Slaughter has the freedom to understand who he is outside of Channel 5. For years, his life seemed to begin and end at the KSDK office. While he wanted to spend time with his twin sons, whom he adopted out of the foster system, the station kept asking for more.
First he was asked to produce more content. Then he was asked to edit his own videos. Then they needed the videos to be longer. He wasn’t allowed to create passion projects or alternative sources of income. The message was clear: everything you’ve got, KSDK gets.
Slaughter considered quitting for years. Then, in a three-minute meeting, his life was unscrewed and dumped onto the boardroom table: He was fired in April. It’s speculated that this decision was made due to Slaughter’s conflicts with management about the increasing demands of his position, which he has openly criticized.
Now that he’s done with weather broadcasting (at least on TV), Slaughter’s pockets of free time sometimes feel like they could swallow him whole. He’s thought about pivoting to more traditional jobs: He recently applied to work on a cruise ship, for instance. Some are born with free time, some achieve it, and Anthony Slaughter had free time thrust upon him. As it turns out, Slaughter is far from the only meteorologist reimagining life after television.
Anthony Slaughter. Photo by Geoff Story
There’s a growing class of meteorologists ditching traditional news, instead opting for independent broadcasting through Instagram lives, YouTube content, or creating their own text alerts and apps. The Digital Weather Network is one example of this trend. Launched in 2022, it’s home to 19 independent outlets from California to Newfoundland. The rise of technology only bolsters broadcasters’ freedom.
Similar shifts are occurring across many industries: from Uber to influencing, it’s easier than ever to be your own boss. Slaughter’s recently been working on his own independent weather station, bringing his devoted audience not just the weather, but the weatherman they love.
This isn’t the only time he has been forced to create freedom from a situation that may not have felt liberating at first. Slaughter knew he was bisexual from a young age, but his family found out only after they listened to a voicemail on his phone: a boy from Anthony’s church discussing their recent kiss. His Pentecostal parents took a slightly unconventional approach: They confronted the boy’s parents. In front of both boys. At church. Anthony was mortified. Did he need to be delivered from evil, like everyone was telling him?
As strict churchgoers, you can probably guess how his parents felt about him kissing boys. His father told him he still loved him, but Anthony wasn’t so sure. Like many queer youth, Slaughter admits, “There were many times when I remember thinking: I don’t see myself in the future. I don’t see myself being able to marry a man one day. I don’t see my family coming to the wedding. I don’t see a space for me existing as an adult.”
Anthony began talking less and less after his parents found out about his sexuality. His father reassured everyone Anthony would talk when he was ready, but that time never seemed to come.
While Anthony sat on his school bus, his classmates would call him “sissy boy,” yelling from the windows of the bus next door. “What am I doing to you?” he asked. “I don’t even know you!” The self-assured picture of “Anthony Slaughter” that grandmas across St. Louis now swoon over was far out of reach in those days.
Slaughter found more freedom to be himself in college. At Mizzou, he studied weather, of course. But he also studied world theology. Once central question — how he could be made in God’s image, and also bisexual — followed him everywhere like a stray dog. He immersed himself in religious studies, finding his truth through cross-examining different religions within historical contexts. He learned how the Bible is often misinterpreted to denounce homosexuality.
Slaughter’s biggest moment of catharsis came after a trip to the tanning salon. He faced himself in the mirror, asking why he couldn’t get any darker. Then, he heard a voice he could only attribute to God, saying, “Because I didn’t make you that way.”
As he peered into the mirror, he thought about all the things that make Anthony Slaughter who he is: His brown eyes, yes, and his left-handedness, and his skin complexion — and his sexuality. He realized, “Everything about you is how you’re supposed to be.” After that, the world began to sing a gentler harmony. Anthony began to accept himself.
He doesn’t share these spiritual moments with everyone. Sometimes his religious side can feel like too much for his queer friends, while his queer side still feels like too much for his family. He doesn’t go to church much or to the gay club — just to the golf course and the gym.
His daily life alternates between what you’d imagine a famous person does and what you’d imagine a regular unemployed 40-year-old does. He does interviews and scrolls TikTok, gets hundreds of likes on shirtless selfies and eats ice cream with his sons.
Anthony doesn’t take for granted that he’s living in the future he couldn’t imagine for himself as a kid. When he speaks to students, his sons, or his nieces and nephews, “I tell them all the time: It just gets better,” he says. “It just gets so much better. Now that I’m at this age, I just wish I could have seen it for myself when I was a kid.”
With this newfound freedom, Slaughter seems to have a million pursuits. After a year of work, he’s finishing up a children’s book. He’s working on an autobiography that will touch on his experience adopting his sons. He’s launching his own brand — SkyWX (pronounced Sky Weather) — which will include his own set of radar maps, text alerts and a weather livestream where he’ll explain where storms are headed, right down to the neighborhoods. He hopes to bring this system to the St. Louis area in Missouri and Illinois next spring.
And not to be missed: Sky Weather includes a line of merchandise. Shirts, hats, and tumblers are available now on his website. They all share uplifting messages, like the word “Freedom” superimposed atop itself 8 times on a navy blue tee. A raglan long sleeve shows a word cloud of inspiration: “write it,” “dream it,” “speak it,” “do it.” A couple shirts command readers to “spread the love” in rainbow font.
Slaughter chuckles when he tells me that people thought these shirts represented LGBTQ+ pride, though that wasn’t his initial intention.
“I had it on one day and a lady was like, ‘Oh, I love your queer shirt!’” he says.
He’d made the design rainbow just because it looked good, but everywhere he went, people complimented the shirt on its pride. He could have corrected them — after all, he made the shirt — but he didn’t. He doesn’t have to anymore.
