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Post by Admin on Jun 5, 2020 21:00:22 GMT
Gabrielle Union has filed a discrimination complaint, nearly six months after she was ousted from America’s Got Talent. The actress and activist said she was fired after only one season for raising concerns about toxicity and racial incidents on set.
In the complaint, which was filed on Thursday with California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH), Union names NBCUniversal and the show’s producers, FremantleMedia and Simon Cowell’s Syco. In a statement to Variety, Union — via her attorney — also made an alarming accusation against NBC Entertainment Chairman Paul Telegdy, claiming he “threatened” her to keep quiet about “whistleblowing.” (The company later called the allegation “categorically untrue.”)
“When Gabrielle Union informed NBC of racially offensive conduct during the taping of America’s Got Talent, NBC did not ‘stand’ with her in ‘outrage at acts of racism,’” said Union’s high-powered attorney, Bryan Freedman, referring to the company’s recent support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
“Instead, NBC did not care enough to either promptly investigate Ms. Union’s complaints or even ask HR to get involved. Rather, NBC stood against her and directed its ‘outrage’ at Ms. Union for whistleblowing about the racially offensive conduct she experienced while working for NBC on America’s Got Talent,” Freedman continued.
Freedman alleged that Telegdy “actually threatened Ms. Union in an attempt to silence her from telling the truth about racist actions that took place on the show. There is no place for this type of racial bullying in the workplace, and it is going to take more than a tweet from NBC to demonstrate that NBC intends to create an environment free from racism.”
DFEH complaints are often precursors to lawsuits. According to journalist Yashar Ali, Union intends to file a separate lawsuit against Cowell.
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Post by Admin on Jun 19, 2020 6:47:14 GMT
Gabrielle Union is opening up about her experience on America's Got Talent and her involvement in NBC's investigation surrounding her controversial exit last November.
During a recent appearance on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, the L.A.'s Finest star, 47, discussed today's civil rights movement — which began in response to the killing of George Floyd and the many injustices that people of color have faced — as well as her decision to call out racism that she says she's witnessed while working in Hollywood.
"I thought it was the easiest show," Union said of joining AGT as a judge. "How hard is it to ... watch jugglers? That's what I thought I signed up for."
However, Union shared things weren't easy for her from the start — including with series creator and fellow judge Simon Cowell.
"Day one, Simon Cowell is smoking cigarettes inside. I've worked a long time. I've worked with all kinds of people. I've never experienced that," Union, who is severely allergic to cigarette smoke, alleged to Noah.
"When your boss — the person who has the ability to determine who gets opportunities and who doesn't — doesn't believe that the law applies to him or the rules apply to him, and he does it in full view of NBC, Fremantle and Syco and no one cares about Simon Cowell exposing all of these employees to second hand smoke, that's day one," she claimed. (Cowell has been open about his smoking habit, most recently telling host Ellen DeGeneres in September that while he opted for a strict vegan diet, he hasn’t stopped drinking or nicotine. But he does not appear to have addressed the allegation that he has smoked indoors, in violation of California law.)
"What message do you think that sends to anyone that has an issue with the very real racism and the lack of accountability? And it goes on and on and on," Union continued.
PEOPLE is out to Cowell's rep for comment. Cowell previously told Variety through a spokesperson that "when he was directly informed of the smoking complaint during the first couple of days of the season, he immediately changed his behavior and the issue was never raised again."
Union then talked to Noah about the investigation into the NBC competition series that was commissioned by the network, and which she said she thought was going to be "independent."
"I decided to participate in this investigation. ... Silly me, I thought 'independent' was independent. But when NBC and [producers] Fremantle and Syco pay for that investigation, they control it," Union charged.
"They turn over what they believe to be inflammatory things, or things that are not advantageous to me," Union alleged.
Union then said that things got so bad that NBC chairman Paul Telegdy threatened her agent. Union had previously accused Telegdy of trying to silence her in her complaint against the media conglomerate filed on June 4.
" 'Gabrielle better watch who she calls a racist,' " Union alleged Telegdy told her team.
"In the middle of an investigation about racism and discrimination? This is what's happening from the top of the company," Union continued.
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Post by Admin on Jun 20, 2020 5:48:06 GMT
Ex-America's Got Talent judge Gabrielle Union has spoken out about what she says was Simon Cowell's behaviour during her time on the show. Following her exit from the show, it was revealed that Union had filed a complaint against AGT's network NBC, production companies and Cowell over allegations of racism and sexism on set, something that was denied after NBC conducted an internal investigation.  Now, she's claimed that the TV mogul doesn’t believe that "the rules apply to him". Speaking to Trevor Noah on The Daily Show (via Metro), Union said: "Day one, Simon Cowell is smoking cigarettes inside. I’ve worked a long time. I’ve worked with all kinds of people. I’ve never experienced that."  "When your boss — the person who has the ability to determine who gets opportunities and who doesn’t — doesn’t believe that the... rules apply to him," she continued, before adding that she has a severe allergy to cigarette smoke. "And he does it in full view of NBC, Fremantle and Syco and no one cares about Simon Cowell exposing all of these employees to second-hand smoke. That’s day one." |
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Post by Admin on Jun 26, 2020 20:08:04 GMT
Gabrielle Union says she doesn't find it "shocking at all" that some producers and showrunners avoid casting people of color.
On Wednesday night, Insecure actress Sujata Day wrote on Twitter that "a white producer/showrunner once said she only writes shows about families so she’s not forced to cast POC actors."
"As shocking as this may seem, not shocking at all. Ahem," Union, 47, wrote in response to Day's tweet.
While the producer/showrunner's identity remained anonymous, Union is no stranger to calling out racism in the entertainment industry.
Earlier this month, Union filed a complaint against NBCUniversal, AGT creator Simon Cowell, Fremantle and Syco, claiming that the media conglomerate did not do enough after she alerted them of "racially offensive conduct during the taping of America’s Got Talent."
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