On Thursday, January 8, WINK-TV fired their Chief Meteorologist Matt Devitt. Neither the station nor Devitt have elaborated on the cause for termination…until now, bringing a dramatic twist to the tale of a very popular broadcast meteorologist who also had a significant online following. In addition to WINK’s comments on the termination public, which appears months in the making, Facebook deleted Devitt’s page with 1.2 million followers today.

After the sudden termination earlier this month, Devitt took to social media  to write broadly about his separation from the station. “This decision was not one that I expected or agreed with and was not given the opportunity to say goodbye on-air. It was a complete shock to me, my family and fellow coworkers,” he wrote in posts on X and Facebook. “While this chapter ended differently than I hoped, I wish WINK News, along with my previous coworkers and weather team, the best,” he added.

Devitt also explained he will do a “reset” during this time of transition. “I’m taking a brief pause professionally to reset and be with my family. I’ve missed them and I’m looking forward to every minute. I’ll keep you all updated on what’s next.”

On Friday,  WINK News General Manager Jamie Ricks sent an internal memo to newsroom staff with an update on Devitt’s termination.

“WINK News does not usually comment on personnel matters. However, recent statements by former WINK News meteorologist Matt Devitt have created confusion and prompted harassment of our employees, necessitating a limited clarification,” Ricks wrote.

“Mr. Devitt publicly stated that his termination was a ‘complete shock.’ That characterization is inaccurate,” the memo states. “Over the past year, WINK News and Human Resources met with Mr. Devitt on multiple occasions regarding off-air conduct. He received written warnings, was recently suspended, and acknowledged in writing that he understood continued violations could result in termination.”

The memo went on to say, “WINK News also learned that Mr. Devitt spent considerable time developing a new weather business in violation of his employment agreement, using company property, and attempting to recruit WINK employees. Mr. Devitt was given time to correct his statements and we will not comment further on this matter.”

Devitt joined WINK-TV as a morning meteorologist almost 10 years ago in February 2016. He was promoted to Chief Meteorologist in March of 2021, a role he has kept since. Prior to WINK, Devitt worked for WSAV-TV as a meteorologist for the Savannah, Georgia station there. Before WSAV-TV, Devitt spent a year at KHBS/KHOG-TV in Rogers, Arkansas as a meteorologist there too.

Since posting about his departure, tens of thousands of people have posted on social media, with most expressing dismay over it. On X, 962 people replied to Devitt’s departure post, including many meteorologists from other markets. The noise on Facebook has been much louder though; more than 27,000 people left comments, mostly negative, and marked the post with 74,000 reactions supportive of Devitt and not of WINK. Many have written about their anger with the television station and the way his termination was handled.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was one of several politicians to get involved in the firing, calling on WINK-TV to return Chief Meteorologist Matt Devitt to the air.

On January 11, the Former Speaker went on X and wrote, “WINK tv owes all of us an explanation for what happened with Matt Devitt. Thousands of us have come to trust him, like him and rely on him. What happened? WINK owes all of us an answer.”

Since then, an unverified report from “Beach Talk Radio” wrote on Facebook, “The reason Matt was fired, from what we are told, was because the new boss did not like that he was taking extra time during his dinner breaks to help his wife with their newborn baby. He even requested to come into work earlier so he could go home earlier and that was denied (his shift was 2:30PM to midnight). The suits expected a one hour dinner break to be no longer than one hour. They called what Matt did insubordination, a violation of his contract, dragged him into the GM’s office and fired him on the spot last Thursday. He has a non-compete agreement for one year.”

The Former Speaker of the House copied those comments and added, “If this report is true the entire WINK senior management should be fired and matt devitt reinstated with back pay” on X.

Catalina Lauf, a Republican running for the 19th Congressional District House Seat, replied to Gingrich online saying the Devitt firing was political.

“My primary opponent, Jim owns WINK. It’s clear in SWFL that he is a RINO hack, possibly a closet DEM. His liberal leadership fired the beloved @MattDevittWX who brought so much hope to SWFL during Hurricane Ian,” wrote Lauf in a post on X to Gingrich.

Jim Schwartzel is the president of Sun Broadcasting, which owns local media outlets, including 92.5 FOX News and The CW, which airs WINK News. In 2025 he announced he would be running as a Republican for the same seat Lauf wants.

Due to Lauf’s accusation on X, Schwartzel released a comment on the matter today on X writing, “For political reasons, some are circulating false claims that I own or control WINK News. I want to be clear: I do not own WINK TV or WINK News. I am not employed by WINK and I have no role in its parent company, Fort Myers Broadcasting Co. I own Sun Broadcasting, Inc., which owns and operates 92.5 FOX News radio, 93.7 Trump Country radio, as well as other radio and media properties. Any statement to the contrary is either misinformed or a deliberate lie.”

While he originally posted he would remove WINK from his Facebook page and post updates in the future, Devitt posted on X on January 13 he was unable to make changes to the account.  He wrote, “Some have asked why I haven’t changed my name on @Facebook or been posting updates. They’re not allowing me to take my former employer out of my name and “rejecting” my request to. I’ve tried multiple times and talked to several of their agents (AI?) with zero progress. As a result, for legal reasons, I can’t post on my page until it is taken out.” He also added, “I just want my name to be Matt Devitt Weather.”

However, since the memo was released by WINK’s Ricks, Devitt’s Facebook page, which had more than 1.2 million followers, was removed from the platform.

This morning, Devitt went to X to make a comment: “I woke up this morning to my Facebook Page deleted. 1.2 million followers over the course of 14 years gone. This is not even including me trying to just change my name. I can’t even log into the page. Meta Support did nothing and can’t even tell me why it happened. Does anyone have connections within Meta that can help me recover this page? Feel free to send me a message. All your help is appreciated. Thanks.”

No one from Facebook was available to comment on the matter.