Actor, singer Gabrielle Union, who was a former judge on the American reality show "America's Got Talent" on Thursday has reportedly filed a discrimination complaint against the show's judge and creator Simon Cowell and NBC.
According to reports, Union's legal document refers to the network as "a snake pit of racial offenses." The 47-year-old actor in November last year had claimed that the show organizers had complained about her hairstyles being "too black" while it was even disclosed that another young black participant in the show was eliminated on the grounds of racial discrimination.
Union left the popular talent competition series after her stint as a one-season judge due to the toxicity of the work environment, according to reports in a leading website. The actor's complaint comes more than six months after leaving the talent show, which is created by none other than Simon Cowell. Union claimed that she suffered harassment and racial discrimination while she was a judge on the show. As per reports, Union was fired after she complained about a racist Jay Leno joke.
Gabrielle Union Files Discrimination Complaint Against Simon Cowell
African American woman Union in her complaint mentioned there were numerous incidents of discrimination following racist comments made by the show's co-judge Howie Mandel and guest judge Jay Leno. As per Union's claim, Mandel had insulted an Arizona based Spanish-singer saying that America wouldn't be able to understand her singing. Union informed NBC's Vice President of Talent Relations about Mandel's racist comment and also shared her concern over Mandel's dissuasive statement.
She also highlighted that despite the smoking-banned law in California at workplaces, Cowell used to smoke indoors which even led to Union falling ill for two months straight. On the other hand, Cowell's representative told Variety last month that soon after Union's smoking complaint reached Cowell's ear's he immediately changed his behavior and the matter was never raised again.
