WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, America First Legal (AFL) filed a lawsuit on behalf of its client, Brian Beneker, against Paramount Global, CBS Entertainment, and CBS Studios for allegedly violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and discriminating against Mr. Beneker by denying him employment and career opportunities based on race, sex, and sexual orientation.
Mr. Beneker is a white, heterosexual male script coordinator and freelance scriptwriter who has consistently written episodes for CBS’s “Seal Team” television series since 2017. He has been repeatedly denied a staff writer position with the show, while CBS hired and promoted individuals who lacked experience and screenwriting credits but were part of the favored hiring groups; that is, they were nonwhite, LGBTQ, or female.
He was previously praised for his work by the showrunner, who offered him the opportunity to write a freelance script, a pathway to the writer’s room. Mr. Beneker asked the showrunner to hire him as a staff writer for the show. He was denied his request and was told that the show already had too many staff writers. However, several months later, CBS hired an additional staff writer, a black male with little relevant experience. Beneker asked his supervisor why the new writer was staffed, and he was told it was because he was black.
By May 2022, CBS hired several staff writers without experience who met their DEI qualifications, specifically, women who were black or LGBTQ. The showrunner informed Mr. Beneker that he did not check the right boxes that the studio was looking for. However, Mr. Beneker has written or co-written four freelance episodes, one of which became the Season 3 Finale and one of which is currently in production for the final season. Mr. Beneker saw a future as a writer working on “Seal Team.” He enjoyed his work with the other show staff, writers, and showrunners. He proved he would make a successful writer but realized that he was ineligible to get hired for the writer’s room because of the apparent illegal, discriminatory race and sex balancing system established by CBS and Paramount.
CBS has also made numerous public statements advertising its diversity efforts in terms of explicit numerical quotas:
- The CEO of CBS Entertainment Group, George Cheeks, “set a goal that all writers’ rooms on the network’s primetime series be staffed 40 percent Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (“BIPOC”) in the 2021-22 season; 17 out of 21 shows hit or exceeded that target;”
- Other outlets have reported that for the 2022-2023 season of television, CBS began requiring that writers’ rooms be comprised of 50% “BIPOC;”
- CBS adopted an initiative requiring 50% of the cast members on their reality shows to be “BIPOC;”
- CBS admits that it uses racial quotas in hiring for its writers’ rooms.
This is AFL’s second lawsuit against the entertainment industry for implementing illegal DEI programs. Last year, AFL sued Meta Platforms, Inc., the Association of Independent Producers, and other entertainment industry entities for illegal discrimination.
DEI is not only immoral, but it is illegal under federal law. While the entertainment industry continues to utilize DEI initiatives on television and in movies, it is critical that the American people understand this unlawful conduct is also being conducted off-screen. America First Legal is unrelenting in its fight to dismantle the DEI industrial complex that is antithetical to equality and the cherished American dream.
Statement from America First Legal President Stephen Miller:
“America First Legal is truly proud to file this landmark lawsuit against CBS as we continue our battle to defeat DEI, stop corporate bigotry, and excise the poison of race discrimination from American workplaces. CBS appears to have carried out an egregious scheme of flagrant discrimination against white and male employees in direct violation of federal civil rights law. We are demanding full, complete, and total justice for our client and will vigorously pursue every lawful means to hold CBS liable for its egregious misconduct. Endemic corporate bigotry in America must be ended.” said Stephen Miller.
Read the lawsuit here.
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