Paramount is getting sued by ex-employee Joseph Jerome, who, according to The Hollywood Reporter, claims the California-based company terminated him for being an old white man. More specifically, Jerome says that he and two other colleagues, who were all over the age of 50 and white, were fired and replaced by “younger employees from minority groups.” Asian attorneys took his friends’ positions, while a “25-year-old Black law school graduate” replaced him.
Jerome reportedly noted that people in the company were gradually being replaced, with younger employees taking the place of older ones. He claims that, at the time, the CBS News president in 2023 told staff to attract younger viewers by hiring younger members. The California ex-exec says that this is nothing more than age discrimination, not to mention that he believes his skin color had also played a factor in his termination. Over the years, there has been a growing debate about forced DEI in workplaces. But in the end, the court will judge whether Paramount is guilty of Jerome’s claims.
“If they fired him for this reason it will be a huge problem for Paramount. Proving it seems difficult at best. If it isn’t utter nonsense will be an interesting case,” remarked a Reddit user. Another person supported the idea that this man is just using the “illegal DEI” excuse to get money out of Paramount. “This is just some dude who thinks Trump being president will get him paid,” the commenter says. After all, the news report states that only Jerome filed a lawsuit, while his other two colleagues didn’t take any legal action. “His argument is MAGA bait and it doesn’t matter what the facts are if the administration decides to use this case to lean harder on Paramount,” adds a third.
In conclusion, it would be perfectly valid that Jerome and the other two lawyers didn’t have what it took to help the company attract a younger audience. His age could have been a factor in a possibly outdated way of thinking, but he’ll need some strong evidence to support his claims of being fired for being white.
