As a seasoned gamer with a keen eye for fairness and justice, I find myself deeply troubled by this ongoing saga in Hollywood. I’ve always admired shows like SEAL Team for their gripping storylines and authentic portrayals of real-life situations. However, the recent lawsuit filed by Brian Beneker against CBS Studios has cast a dark shadow over the industry I love.
A court has decided that a discrimination lawsuit filed by a script coordinator on the show “SEAL Team,” who alleged that CBS Studios were enforcing unlawful diversity quotas to the detriment of straight white men, can move forward.
As a passionate follower, I’m thrilled to share that Judge John Walter, on Tuesday evening, denied Paramount’s attempt to dismiss the ongoing case. He believes that important questions, such as whether the First Amendment grants productions wide freedom in selecting talent for their movies and TV shows, should be addressed at a later phase of this legal battle.
The ruling was issued without oral arguments and cited another judge’s decision to advance a discrimination lawsuit from Gina Carano against Disney and Lucasfilm over her firing from The Mandalorian. The court in that case rejected arguments that the actress’ claims are barred on free speech grounds, finding that she may have been terminated in retaliation for holding disfavored political beliefs. Disney, like CBS in its defense in the lawsuit from SEAL Team script coordinator Brian Beneker, had argued that it’s entitled to select the people who convey its message in its content.
In a lawsuit filed in March, Beneker claimed that he was repeatedly passed over for a staff writer position due to an allegedly illegal policy favoring diversity, which prioritized the employment of less qualified candidates who identified as minorities, members of the LGBTQ community, or women. He is demanding at least half a million dollars, as well as a court order appointing him as a full-time producer on the series and prohibiting future discriminatory hiring practices.
In their defense, CBS asserted wide-ranging protections under the First Amendment. Regardless of whether Beneker’s allegations about being consistently overlooked for a writing position due to the studio focusing on diversity are accurate, they maintain their actions are legally sound.
In her court submission, Molly Lens, representing the studio, argued that restricting CBS’s freedom to choose its own writers (as Beneker proposes) is unconstitutional because it hinders CBS’s capacity to control the message they convey. She further explained that since CBS’s output is expressive in nature, they have the right to employ individuals whose work contributes to that expression.
The issue will be decided at summary judgment, the court said.
America First Legal Foundation, a conservative organization led by Stephen Miller, is representing Beneker. This group has been lodging complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against prominent corporations like Morgan Stanley, Starbucks, and McDonald’s. The complaints allege that these companies’ diversity and hiring practices violate civil rights laws. A lawsuit against CBS was recently filed after the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling last year, which abolished race-conscious admissions in colleges and universities (in the case of Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard). This legal action could be seen as the initial move in a potential legal challenge to initiatives aimed at promoting diversity and inclusion in Hollywood following the Supreme Court’s decision that invalidated affirmative action.
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2024-08-15 19:54