Jeff Vaughn, Former KCAL Anchor, Information $5 Million Swimsuit for ‘Anti-White’ Discrimination
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A former anchor on KCAL and KCBS has filed a $5 million lawsuit claiming he was fired as a result of he was a white man.
Jeff Vaughn is represented by America First Authorized, the conservative authorized group that has taken goal at range, fairness and inclusion packages, calling them unlawful “anti-white discrimination.”
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Vaughn labored on the CBS-owned station group for eight years, till his departure final September. Within the go well with, he says he was by no means given a motive for his firing.
“Nevertheless it was apparent,” the go well with states. “He was fired as a result of he’s an older, white, heterosexual, male.”
America First Authorized additionally represents Brian Beneker, a script coordinator on “SEAL Crew” who has sued CBS for failing to rent him for a writing job on the present. In that case, CBS has cited the First Modification in assist of its proper to have interaction in various hiring practices.
Each lawsuits cite CBS’ acknowledged purpose of getting Black, Indigenous, and Folks of Shade (BIPOC) illustration attain 40% in its TV writers rooms in 2021-22 and 50% in 2022-23.
Vaughn’s go well with additionally notes that Wendy McMahon, the CEO of CBS Information, has been lauded for prioritizing DEI initiatives, and for hiring and selling ladies and other people of coloration.
Earlier than he was let go, Vaughn alleges that he was excluded from protection of the 9/11 anniversary. He additionally states that he was left off of a billboard promoting the newscast in favor of his nonwhite and feminine colleagues, and that he was excluded from social occasions.
In 2023, the stations auditioned replacements for his place, ushering them into the studio whereas Vaughn was at work, the go well with alleges.
“All of the people who got here on set to audition for his place have been youthful, racial minorities,” the go well with states.
The station group employed Chauncy Glover, who had been an anchor on the ABC affiliate in Houston for the earlier eight years. The go well with contends that Glover — who’s Black — had “minimal” expertise, although Glover has labored in TV information since graduating from faculty in 2007.
In an identical discrimination case, Kyle Hunter sued KCAL and KCBS in 2012, alleging that the stations refused to rent him as a weathercaster as a result of they have been solely in search of “youthful engaging females.”
In that case, CBS argued that its selection of weathercasters was a matter of free speech, which trumped the discrimination declare.
A California appeals court docket sided with CBS, discovering that Hunter didn’t provide ample proof that he was the sufferer of discrimination.
“The truth that CBS employed two youthful ladies to function its primetime climate anchors doesn’t assist a rational inference of pretext or discriminatory animus,” the appeals court docket held in that case.
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