Gabrielle Union Says She Was Threatened by Paul Telegdy Over Whistleblowing

Gabrielle Union has filed a harassment complaint against the producers and network behind “America’s Got Talent.” She also raised a new accusation that NBC Entertainment Chairman Paul Telegdy threatened her over speaking out against racism on set.

“At the end of all this, my goal is real change — and not just on this show but for the larger parent company. It starts from the top down,” Union said last week. “My goal is to create the happiest, most high-functioning, inclusive, protected and healthy example of a workplace.”

Union, through power attorney Bryan Freedman, filed the complaint with California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH), naming producers FremantleMedia and Simon Cowell’s Syco as well as NBCUniversal. DFEH complaints are often precursors to lawsuits.

The nature of Telegdy’s accused threat was not immediately clear. In a Variety cover story last week, Union spoke out for the first time with accusations of on-set racism and a lack of accountability from all production parties.

In a statement to Variety, a spokesperson for NBCUniversal said “the allegation that anyone involved in this process threatened Ms. Union is categorically untrue. We took Ms. Union‘s concerns seriously, and engaged an outside investigator who found an overarching culture of diversity on the show. NBCUniversal remains committed to creating an inclusive and supportive working environment where people of all backgrounds are treated with respect.”
Fremantle and Cowell had no immediate comment on the matter.

“When Gabrielle Union informed NBC of racially offensive conduct during the taping of ‘America’s Got Talent,’ NBC did not ‘stand’ with her in ‘outrage at acts of racism,’” Freedman said, invoking the company’s recent support of #BlackLivesMatter. “Instead, NBC did not care enough to either promptly investigate Ms. Union’s complaints or even ask HR to get involved. Rather, NBC stood against her and directed its “outrage” at Ms. Union for whistleblowing about the racially offensive conduct she experienced while working for NBC on ‘America’s Got Talent’.”

Freedman continued that “in sharp contrast to NBC’s recent news statement on race, what was truly an “outrage” was the fact that Paul Telegdy, Chairman of NBC Entertainment, actually threatened Ms. Union in an attempt to silence her from telling the truth about racist actions that took place on the show. There is no place for this type of racial bullying in the workplace, and it is going to take more than a Tweet from NBC to demonstrate that NBC intends to create an environment free from racism.”

[Via]