NBC, Questlove Sued By Former Network Employees For Racial Discrimination

The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) and musician Ahmir ‘Questlove’ Thompson, the frontman for the band The Roots, were named in a lawsuit submitted by two former employees of “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” who claimed they were targeted for termination because they were Caucasian.

In a lawsuit, Kurt Decker and Michael Cimino, who worked for the show as camera operators, stated that they received “an unsolicited racist and misogynist text message from a Tonight Show stagehand” on June 19, 2017. Another person who received the same text was The Roots' bassist Mark Kelley, who is African American.

The Roots have been the in-house band for “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” since February 2014.

The lawsuit stated: “Both were shocked to receive it and repulsed by its content,” and added Decker and Cimino did not reply to the message.

In the lawsuit, Decker and Cimino said they reported the message to Keith McPhee, a manager for The Roots, and NBC's technical production manager Byron King. The day after they received the message, both cameramen were suspended, the Blast reported.

After this, an investigation into the matter was ordered, which lasted seven weeks. When the issue reached the attention of Questlove, the lawsuit stated, he wanted “all Caucasian employees involved” fired. However, Kelley was not punished.

"The bottom line is that discrimination is discrimination, no matter your ethnicity, race or creed," Richard Roth, who is representing Decker and Cimino, said.

Cimino and Decker are seeking $1 million each in damages.

Responding to the allegations, Questlove’s representative told the Rolling Stone in a statement: “Questlove denies the ridiculous allegations made in this lawsuit. Racism is REAL and exists throughout the world and for these gentlemen to claim victim is not only disrespectful to Questlove and his bandmates but to all that truly endure racism on a daily basis. As NBC already stated, the decisions made regarding these employees were made by NBC, alone."

An NBC spokesperson also released a statement: “NBC is committed to providing a work environment in which all individuals are treated with respect and dignity. We have strong policies in place that protect against discrimination in any form. The decision about these plaintiffs was the company’s alone."

A source at NBC, who chose to remain anonymous, said that the cameramen’s “failure to report the inappropriate text was one of the policies violated by the plaintiffs.”

The cameramen, however, said NBC followed a different pattern of behavior with regards to “reporting requirements in other circumstances of wrongful conduct.”

They cited the Matt Lauer incident, and said: “For example, it has been widely reported that many employees of NBC (including, of course, female victims themselves) had actual knowledge of Matt Lauer’s alleged serial sexual harassment, and yet NBC ignored and took no adverse action against any such individuals for their purported failure to report Mr. Lauer’s conduct.”