WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, America First Legal (AFL) filed a lawsuit on behalf of its client against CBS Broadcasting Inc. for alleged discrimination based on race, age, and sexual orientation after terminating the plaintiff for being a white, straight, older male. CBS’s termination violates Title VII and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act.
AFL’s client is an Emmy Award-winning white male with over 30 years of experience in broadcast journalism. In May 2022, after working at CBS for almost seven years, the General Manager Joel Vilmanay informed him that he would be terminated within six months and that CBS was currently looking for his replacement. AFL’s client asked the Vice President News Director of CBS, Mike Dello Stritto, about his termination and was told: “It’s not about the ratings.”
It was not about the ratings; it was because CBS was apparently engaging in illegal diversity policies that unabashedly discriminate against white males. In fact, CBS replaced AFL’s client with a young black male who checked the illegal diversity boxes the network was seeking.
Moreover, CBS has issued multiple public statements about their explicit diversity quotas:
- The Former CBS Executive Whitney Davis claimed CBS has a “white problem.”
- In 2020, CBS adopted an initiative requiring by “the 2022-2023 broadcast season: half of all writers will be nonwhite.”
- For the 2022-23 production season, CBS mandated that writers’ rooms be staffed with at least 50 percent black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC).
Before being terminated, AFL’s client had steadily experienced discriminatory practices by being barred from being involved at CBS in multiple ways.
First, AFL’s client was completely excluded from CBS News’ 20th anniversary of 9/11 special coverage–even though he was the only one on the team that reported from Ground Zero during the events of September 11, 2001, a perspective one might find important twenty years later. Instead, this was hosted by non-white colleagues with no personal experience on the scene.
Second, in the fall of 2022, CBS News ran a new promotional campaign for its evening news but excluded its own on-air primetime host while including every other minority member. After CBS replaced AFL’s white male client with a young black male, it immediately added AFL’s client’s replacement to its promotional campaign.
Third, CBS News continually excluded AFL’s client from annual events he regularly participated in such as America Fest Forth of July Ceremonies, Children Hospital fundraisers, Taste of Soul, and Race for the Cure. He was even excluded from multiple field anchor opportunities to cover the LA Rams Super Bowl Victory Parade in February 2022.
This is AFL’s third lawsuit against the entertainment industry for illegal discrimination against white Americans. Last year, AFL sued Meta Platforms, Inc., the Association of Independent Producers, Paramount Global, CBS Entertainment, and CBS Studios for alleged illegal discrimination based on age, race, and sex.
Anti-white discrimination has no place in America and must be completely rooted out. The entertainment industry has been allowed to flagrantly violate federal and state anti-discrimination laws for years resulting in unethical treatment of white-male employees. America First Legal will ceaselessly fight illegal discrimination to protect the rights of all Americans.
Statement from Gene Hamilton, America First Legal Executive Director:
“All racism is wrong. All racial discrimination is wrong. Making employment decisions using race as a factor in the process is racial discrimination and is wrong. We are proud to stand up for our client to vindicate his rights under long-settled law against what appears to be intentional and blatant discrimination by his employer because of his immutable characteristics. Too many employers in the United States have abandoned their commitment to the law, and we look forward to holding them accountable for any illegal actions,“ said Gene Hamilton.
Read the lawsuit here.
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Photo Credits: Adobe Stock Images / Gorodenkoff
