CBS Defends Diversity in ‘SEAL Team’ Recruiting From ‘Anti-White Discrimination’ Lawsuit

CBS filed a motion Thursday to dismiss a lawsuit challenging its diversity hiring practices for writers on the show “SEAL Team,” arguing that they have rights under the Amendment The first option is to hire the person they want.

Brian Beneker, the show’s longtime script coordinator, sued in February, arguing that he was repeatedly passed over for writing jobs because he is a white, straight man.
Beneker is backed by America First Legal, run by Stephen Miller, counsel to former President Trump. The organization has sought to challenge diversity, equity and inclusion programs — which it calls “anti-white discrimination” — in the entertainment industry and elsewhere in corporate America.

In its petition, CBS argued that it has the constitutional right to decide who speaks on its behalf, which supersedes anti-discrimination laws.

“CBS’s well-meaning decision to prioritize diversity in its writers room is protected by the First Amendment because — as Beneker’s complaint acknowledges — writers for one work,” writes Molly Lens. creatives like ‘SEAL Team’ influence the stories that ‘SEAL Team’ tells.” , partner at O’Melveny & Myers. “Thus, limiting CBS’s ability to choose writers of its choice choice — as Beneker seeks to do here — would unconstitutionally weaken CBS’s ability to shape its message.”

In a similar case, Disney argued last month that it had a First Amendment right to fire “Mandalorian” actor Gina Carano after she made a social media post that was considered vulgar. normalize the Holocaust.

Disney and CBS both cite the same case – Boy Scouts of America v. Dale and Hurley v. Irish-American gay, lesbian and bisexual group in Boston, among others – for the proposition that the government cannot force a private entity to hire someone to express views it does not Agree.

Lens is also among the attorneys representing Disney in the Carano case.

In both cases, the defense cited a racial discrimination lawsuit filed against ABC in 2011 over its failure to cast a Black man on “The Bachelor.” The judge dismissed that case, citing the First Amendment right of producers to make their own casting decisions.

In 2020, CBS aims to have 40% Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) representation in its writers room by 2021-22 and 50% by 2022-23.

A report by the Writers Guild of America West found that BIPOC writers made up 37% of all television series staffing in 2020, up from 13.6% a decade earlier.

Beneker’s lawsuit alleges that CBS’s goal was illegal hiring quotas. The lawsuit means that white, heterosexual men need “additional qualifications” to be hired as writers, such as military experience or prior writing credits, compared to writers who do not. must be white, female, or LGBTQ, who do not need that degree.

The lawsuit implied that the hiring policy violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The lawsuit sought an injunction prohibiting CBS from implementing the policy and requiring the show to hire Beneker as a producer.

CBS does not represent that the First Amendment makes it immune from anti-discrimination laws. But it holds that the First Amendment prevails when hiring for positions — like writers or actors — that involve expressive conduct.

“The First Amendment programming rule of anchor autonomy gives CBS, and only CBS, the power to decide what stories to tell on its television,” Lens wrote. “And it has a corresponding right to choose which writers are best suited to tell those stories.”