A lawsuit from a script coordinator for SEAL Team, who accused CBS Studios of carrying out illegal diversity quotas that discriminate against straight white men, will proceed, a court has ruled.
U.S. District Judge John Walter, in an order issued Tuesday evening, rebuffed parent company Paramount’s bid to dismiss the case. He found that certain issues, like whether the First Amendment affords productions broad protections in choosing talent for their movies and TV shows, would be “more appropriately resolved” at a later stage of the litigation.
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.
Beneker, in a lawsuit filed in March, alleged that he was repeatedly denied a staff writer job after the implementation of an “illegal policy of race and sex balancing” that promoted the hiring of “less qualified applicants who were members of more preferred groups,” namely those who identify as minorities, LGBTQ or women. He seeks at least $500,000, plus a court order making him a full-time producer on the series and barring the further use of discriminatory hiring practices.
Arguing for dismissal, CBS claimed broad First Amendment protections. Even if Beneker’s claims that he was repeatedly passed over for a writing role because the studio chose to prioritize diversity are true, the company said that it’s on solid legal ground.
“Limiting CBS’s ability to select the writers of its choice — as Beneker seeks to do here — unconstitutionally impairs CBS’s ability to shape its message,” wrote Molly Lens, a lawyer for the studio, in a court filing. It continued, “Because CBS’s works are expressive, CBS has the right to select employees whose work affects that expression.”
The issue will be decided at summary judgment, the court said.
America First Legal Foundation, a conservative group founded by Stephen Miller, represents Beneker. The organization has been filing complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against major companies, including Morgan Stanley, Starbucks and McDonald’s, over corporate diversity and hiring practices that allegedly run afoul of civil rights laws. The lawsuit against CBS was filed following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last year striking down race-conscious admissions in colleges and universities in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard in what could be considered the opening legal salvo against efforts to boost diversity and inclusion in Hollywood in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision knocking down affirmative action.
