CBS Studios and its parent company, Paramount, both face a lawsuit over alleged discriminatory diversity quotas targeting straight white men, which could mark the beginning of legal challenges against diversity initiatives in Hollywood following the Supreme Court's ruling against affirmative action.
Brian Beneker, a script coordinator for SEAL Team, filed a lawsuit in California federal court on Wednesday, alleging that he was consistently denied a staff writer job after the implementation of an unlawful "illegal policy of race and sex balancing" promoting the hiring of less qualified applicants from preferred groups, such as minorities, LGBTQ individuals, or women. Beneker seeks at least $500,000 in damages and requests a court order to appoint him as a full-time producer on the series while prohibiting the continuation of discriminatory hiring practices.
A Conservative-Backed Lawsuit on Diversity and Hiring Practices
Beneker is represented by the America First Legal Foundation, a conservative group established by Stephen Miller, a former White House policy adviser during the Trump Administration, which has been lodging complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) against violations of diversity and hiring practices, including Morgan Stanley, Starbucks, and McDonald's. The CBS lawsuit, purportedly the first entertainment industry company targeted by the organization, declined to comment.
The lawsuit was filed after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision struck down race-conscious admissions in colleges and universities last year. While this ruling doesn't directly impact companies, as they are governed by distinct federal and state anti-discrimination laws prohibiting considering race in hiring decisions, legal experts anticipate a rise in reverse discrimination lawsuits targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. Chief Justice John Roberts stated in the opinion that ending racial discrimination entails ending all forms of it.
Discrimination on Straight White Man
In the lawsuit, Beneker, a script coordinator for CBS' SEAL Team since 2017 who has also freelanced as a scriptwriter for some episodes, outlines situations where he was purportedly overlooked for staff writing roles in favor of Black or female candidates, whom he contends were less experienced and frequently lacked writing credits than he was.
According to the complaint, when Beneker questioned why a Black writer was chosen over him in 2019, the showrunner explained that CBS aimed to fulfill diversity quotas in its writers' rooms by hiring minorities. Beneker was also informed that he did not check any "diversity boxes" as a straight, white man in the criteria.
Since 2020, despite purported assurances of receiving the next staff writing position, Bedeker claims CBS has hired at least six more writers, all female. Since 2020, Bedeker claims CBS hired at least six female writers. In Season 6, around May of 2022, two female writer's assistants without writing credits were hired as staff writers, one black and the other identifying as lesbian.
The lawsuit contends that CBS's hiring practices have resulted in heterosexual, white men needing additional qualifications, such as military experience or prior writing credits, compared to their non-white, LGBTQ, or female counterparts to be hired as staff writers.
The "Racial Quotas"
The complaint alleges CBS has been enforcing racial quotas. George Cheeks, CBS Entertainment Group CEO, purportedly stated in a 2022 interview that he aimed for 40% of minorities to comprise all writers' rooms on the network's primetime series for the 2021-22 season and claimed that 17 out of 21 shows surpassed this target.
The network also announced plans for the 2022-23 broadcast season to require half of all writers to be non-white to represent diversity better both on-screen and off-came.
The complaint alleges violations of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which prohibits racial discrimination in private contracts, and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bans employment discrimination based on race, religion, and sex, among other factors.
