CBS Loses Bid to Dismiss Lawsuit From ‘SEAL Team’ Scribe Over Alleged Racial Quotas for Hiring Writers

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. {snip} 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. {snip}

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