Paramount Pushes Back at Fired White CBS Anchorwoman’s Suit, as It Faces Harsh Scrutiny Over Its Now-Abandoned Diversity Policies

Paramount and its subsidiary CBS — which had some of the most aggressive “diversity, equity, and inclusion” policies in the media industry prior to President Trump’s return to power — are trying to limit the scope of a major lawsuit brought by a former local news anchor who claims she was discriminated against because she is white. In August, a white former news anchor at CBS-owned Boston station WBZ, Katherine Merrill, sued the station, CBS, and Paramount for $4 million, alleging that she was wrongfully accused of “microaggressions” and “implicit bias” and discriminated against because she is white. Ms. Merrill alleges that WBZ-TV adopted aggressive diversity policies at the direction of CBS and “exploited such policies and took career-ending action” against her to “advance a DEI agenda.”Paramount and CBS — which implemented some of Hollywood’s most aggressive diversity, equity, and inclusion policies during the so-called racial reckoning after the 2020 death of George Floyd, including explicit racial quotas that may have been illegal — have faced a series of lawsuits from former white employees asserting that they were discriminated against due to their race. Paramount has settled several similar lawsuits.Paramount’s biggest champion of diversity, CBS boss George Cheeks, pledged at the height of the “racial reckoning” in 2020 that by the 2022-2023 season, half of the personnel in CBS writers’ rooms would be people of color. Despite this, Mr. Cheeks is the only top Paramount executive who survived the Skydance acquisition.On Monday night, attorneys for Paramount, CBS, and WBZ filed a motion to dismiss four out of the six claims made by Ms. Merrill. The four claims the attorneys sought to dismiss included allegations of discrimination based on sex, defamation, tortious interference with advantageous relations, and untimely payment of wages.If they succeed in getting those claims dismissed, that would leave just two claims against the defendants: discrimination on the basis of race and failure to investigate Ms. Merrill’s complaints against her former co-workers.Attorneys for Paramount and CBS told the court that “they have attempted in good faith but without success to resolve or narrow the issues presented” and asked for oral arguments on the motion to dismiss the four claims. The judge overseeing the case gave Ms. Merrill until December 22 to respond to the motion to dismiss.Ms. Merrill’s lawsuit and other pending lawsuits involving similar allegations are likely to be closely watched by media observers to see how Paramount, which is under new management after Skydance completed its acquisition of it last summer, handles allegations of discrimination against white employees, while its new owners have pledged to eliminate many of the policies the plaintiffs said led to them being fired or denied other opportunities. The Trump Administration, which considered DEI programs to be illegal, has been using the power of the presidency to force liberal companies to drop their DEI policies.In April, CBS settled a major lawsuit brought by a writer for the now-canceled “SEAL Team” who argued he was denied a permanent job because he was a straight white male. His lawsuit was supported by America First Legal, a group founded by one of President Trump’s advisors, Stephen Miller.In July 2024, a former anchor at the CBS-owned Los Angeles local station, KCAL, Jeff Vaughn, sued, alleging he was “fired because he is an older, white, heterosexual, male.” That case is still pending.CBS was hit by another similar lawsuit in October as a white former Paramount executive, Joseph Jerome, says he was subjected to age and race discrimination due to the company’s “DEI goals” when he was fired last year.Mr. Jerome’s complaint alleges that he was one of three white CBS Media Ventures employees over the age of 50 who were fired and replaced by younger employees of color. It also states that the termination notice came from the executive vice president of business and legal affairs at CBS Media Ventures, Nicole Harris Johnson, who was in charge of CBS Legal’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committee.Paramount did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment by the time of publication.

Paramount Pushes Back at Fired White CBS Anchorwoman’s Suit, as It Faces Harsh Scrutiny Over Its Now-Abandoned Diversity Policies

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