Some have claimed that the slurred speech and comments that seemed disoriented came from a bottle.
Guyardo is angry. She's had the flu for a week and that her illness may have affected her performance.
"No one could say that they saw me consume any alcohol, because I didn't," she said. "Channel 8 would not let me go up there if I was showing signs of being drunk. ... I was burning up with fever, my throat was closing up, and it was clear that I was sick."
Guyardo's parade co-anchor, Bill Ratliff, supported her. "I'm not covering for a friend. ... I never noticed anything," said Ratliff, who has also co-anchored WFLA's morning and midday newscasts with Guyardo for years.
Guyardo was briefly removed from the air so that she and news director Don North could have a telephone meeting to determine if she could continue the coverage. She returned to the air around 4:30 p.m.
The anchor had been on air all last week while also dealing with the flu. Her fans had suggested that she go home and recover.
"I watched (a videotape of parade coverage) ... and I was not on my 'A' game," she said. "If I had it do over again, I would have called in sick 1,000 times over."
Just a side note.
If you have the flu the best course of action is to rest and not go into the office. Your office mates will thank you if they don't come down with the virus.
Sneezing, coughing and spreading germs cost companies a ton of money every winter.
