Conservative group sues Meta and advertising firms for racial discrimination in hiring
Christopher Hutton
Video Embed
A civil rights group sued Facebook parent company Meta and a group of media producers for discriminating based on race while hiring the staff required to produce a new advertisement.
The conservative group America First Legal filed a suit in the Southern District of New York on Tuesday alleging racial discrimination. Meta had produced a commercial with the ad agency BBDO and Something Ideal. The two groups had agreed to hire black, indigenous, and people of color workers to help handle the leadership positions at the project. The agreement was part of a program run by the Association of Independent Producers titled “Double the Line,” which aimed to create roles for black workers in the entertainment industry so they can learn the ins and outs of media production.
NASA ASTRONAUTS RETURNED TO EARTH WITH A LOUD SONIC BOOM HEARD ALL OVER FLORIDA
America First Legal filed the suit on behalf of a white man who worked as an electrician on other Hollywood projects for over 27 years. The man claims he was required to report to a minority employee without experience and was denied employment opportunities due to the policy.
“For many decades, New York and Federal law have prohibited discrimination based on race, color, national origin, and sex,” America First Legal Senior Counselor Reed Rubinstein said in a statement sent to the Washington Examiner. “The Defendants, with their morally twisted ‘woke’ view that racism, bigotry, and sexism actually are perfectly fine whenever they decide it to be so, have arrogantly declared themselves above the law. But our brave client and millions of other Americans of good faith have had enough.”
“The Defendants here, and the entertainment industry more generally, will soon find out that the cost of racialist virtue signaling has gone up,” Rubinstein concluded.
America First Legal was founded by former Trump aide Stephen Miller as a conservative alternative to the American Civil Liberties Union.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
If a commercial company wishes to “Double the Line,” they must “agree to double the role of any single position” involved in projects others have bid upon, according to the initiative’s website.
For example, if a project wants to “Double the Line” with regard to directing commercials, the agency or client would agree to create a second role, which could be held by a minority employee who wishes to learn how to direct advertisements. That employee would then work alongside the director to learn skills on the job while also being paid.