Sean “Diddy” Combs and his music channel Revolt TV are facing a discrimination lawsuit from a group of former employees.
The plaintiffs are five white men all over the age of 39, according to a report in Page 6.
The lawsuit alleges that Douglas Goodstein and four other Caucasian producers were fired because they weren’t “young and black.”
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The producers worked on the televised version of Revolt’s popular talk radio program The Breakfast Club.
The producers — who previously worked for The Howard Stern Show — say that Revolt’s executive vice-president, Val Boreland, “treated the African-American staff in a much friendlier and respectful manner,” according to court documents obtained by Page 6.
The men found that Revolt’s corporate environment was unlike anywhere else they’d worked before. The suit states that the executives turned a blind eye to the behaviour of “African-American employees who arrived to work intoxicated or hung over.”
The suit also says that one production assistant “often came to work late, drunk and slept on the editing floor during work hours. Yet he suffered no repercussions for this behaviour.”
“The animosity Mr. Boreland had towards Caucasians was clear,” the suit alleges.
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Another portion of the court documents says that a production manager who commented on the lateness of guests was told “he just did not understand the ‘culture’ of the show’s guests and on-air personalities.”
The producers were fired in December 2014 and replaced by producers the suit characterized as “younger, black and with less experience.”
“Racism directed at anyone is unacceptable,” Matthew Blit, a lawyer for the producers, said.
Charlamagne Tha God, a host of The Breakfast Club, has been very vocal about the situation on social media.
He wants people to know that the lawsuit involves Revolt TV and not Power 105 or The Breakfast Club.
“Diddy don’t pay us enough to have our names slandered like this,” he wrote in an Instagram caption.
Representatives for Revolt sent a comment to THE FADER. “These claims are without merit and have previously been dismissed by the EEOC. Revolt Media and TV, LLC has always been committed to diversity in the workplace and is an equal opportunity employer.”
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