CBS Loses ‘SEAL Team’ Writer’s Lawsuit Alleging Racial Discrimination in Hiring
A lawsuit from a script coordinator for SEAL Team who accused CBS Studios of implementing illegal diversity quotas that discriminated against white, straight men will proceed, a court has ruled.
U.S. District Judge John Walter, in an order issued Tuesday night, denied parent company Paramount’s request to dismiss the lawsuit. He found that certain issues, such as whether the First Amendment gives producers broad protections in selecting talent for their films and television shows, would be “more appropriately addressed” at a later stage of the litigation.
The ruling came without oral argument and cited another judge’s decision to advance Gina Carano’s discrimination lawsuit against Disney and Lucasfilm over her firing from The Mandalorian. In that case, the court rejected arguments that the actress’s complaints were barred on free speech grounds, finding that she may have been terminated in retaliation for having unpopular political views. Disney, like CBS in its defense of a lawsuit from SEAL Team script coordinator Brian Beneker, has argued that it has the right to choose who conveys its message in its content. In a lawsuit filed in March, Beneker alleges that he was repeatedly denied writing jobs after implementing an “unlawful racial and gender balance policy” that encouraged hiring “less qualified applicants who are members of favored groups,” namely those who identify as minorities, LGBTQ, or women. He seeks at least $500,000 in damages, plus a court order making him a full-time producer on the series and prohibiting him from continuing to use discriminatory hiring practices.
In arguing for his firing, CBS claimed broad First Amendment protection. Even if Beneker’s claim that he was repeatedly denied a writing role because the studio chose to prioritize diversity were true, the company said it had solid legal grounds.
“Restricting CBS’s ability to select writers at will—as Beneker seeks to do here—unconstitutionally undermines CBS’s ability to shape its message,” Molly Lens, a lawyer for the studio, wrote in a court filing. “Because CBS’s productions are expressive, CBS has the right to select employees whose work affects that expression,” the filing continued.
The court said the issue will be decided at summary judgment.
America First Legal Foundation, a conservative group founded by Stephen Miller, is representing Beneker. The organization has filed complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against major companies, including Morgan Stanley, Starbucks, and McDonald’s, over the companies’ diversity and hiring practices that it says violate civil rights laws. The lawsuit against CBS comes after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last year to strike down race-conscious admissions at colleges and universities in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which could be seen as the opening legal blow against efforts to promote diversity and inclusion in Hollywood following the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down affirmative action.
