White Male Writer Sues CBS Claiming DEI-Fueled Discrimination

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(NewsWorthy.news) – CBS has seen a backlash against its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policy as a white male freelance writer has sued the network and its parent Paramount Global for discrimination. Brian Beneker, a freelance scriptwriter and script coordinator for the network’s “SEAL Team”, alleges that he was blatantly discriminated against as a white, heterosexual male.

The federal lawsuit, filed on February 29 in the U.S. District Court of Central California, alleges that CBS denied Beneker a staff writer position due to his race, sex, and sexual orientation after it imposed strict diversity rules for its writers for the series. Beneker’s lawsuit is represented by the conservative nonprofit America First Legal.

Beneker became a screenwriter for the pilot episode of the series in 2017. He was soon offered work in writing an episode script for the second season of the drama that focuses on a group of Navy SEALs. Beneker was told that to continue working as a scriptwriter he had to quit his role as a coordinator. He noted that he was replaced by a woman who lacked any experience as a script coordinator. Beneker claimed she struggled in her role and quit after roughly two weeks of training.

CBS chief executive George Cheeks was widely criticized in 2022 for imposing harsh working conditions and pushing employees to work evenings and weekends. Following reports of poor ratings of staff satisfaction, complaints also mounted about co-president Neeraj Khemlani, who was accused of micromanagement and rudeness towards employees. Lawyers from JW Howard Attorneys and America First Legal Foundation referred to a mandate that sought to ensure 40% of staff in writers’ rooms for the 2021-2022 season were black, indigenous, and people of color. Beneker claims that during the development of the sixth season of SEAL Team, the show’s producer told him that two female writers, who were black and lesbian respectively, ticked diversity boxes that he did not.

AFL, which was founded by Stephen Miller, a former policy aide for Donald Trump, commented on X that they sued CBS for violating federal law and carrying out blatant “anti-white” discrimination. They vowed to hold the network responsible for “lawless and bigoted conduct”.