Simon Cowell got some bad news on Thursday when his former “America’s Got Talent” co-judge Gabrielle Union filed a harassment complaint against him and NBC.

In her complaint, Union claimed that Cowell and the network tried to silence her claims of racism, with her attorney claiming entertainment chair Paul Telegdy tried to stop her “from telling the truth about racist actions that took place” on the set of the reality competition show.

“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,'” lawyer Bryan Freedman said in a statement posted to Twitter, according to Daily Mail.

This comes a month after Union spoke out to claim that she was fired from the show last year after she reported racist jokes that were cracked by guest judge Jay Leno. That’s why she officially filed a harassment, discrimination and retaliation complaint with the California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing against NBC Universal, Simon Cowell and production companies FremantleMedia and SyCo, which is owned by Cowell.

“America’s Got Talent” has previously denied the claims made by Union, claiming that an investigation found that the show “demonstrated an overall culture of diversity.”

Union, however, disagreed in her statement released through Freedman.

“Instead, NBC did not care enough to either promptly investigate Ms. Union’s complaints or even ask HR to get involved,” Freedman continued. “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.”

“In sharp contrast to NBC’s recent statement on race, what was truly an “outrage” was the fact that Paul Telegdy, Chairman of NBC Entertainment, actually threatened Ms. Union in an attempt to silence her from telling the truth about racist actions that took place on the show,” he added. “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.”

Union had previously talked about how tortuous it was being on the set of the show, claiming that she faced consequences when she brought up Cowell’s constant smoking to producers.

“Coming onto a set and you are literally met with the very definition of a toxic work environment, and it’s being carried out by the most powerful person on the production,” she said.

Cowell has claimed that he changed his smoking habits once Union made her complaint, and that it wasn’t an issue again. He and NBC have yet to respond to the new complaints filed against them.

Recommended
Join the Discussion

COMMENTS POLICY: We have no tolerance for messages of violence, racism, vulgarity, obscenity or other such discourteous behavior. Thank you for contributing to a respectful and useful online dialogue.

Subscribe
Notify of
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
More Stuff