CBS accused of anti-white policies
CBS has reached a confidential settlement in a federal discrimination lawsuit filed by Brian Beneker, a former script coordinator on the network’s drama SEAL Team, who alleged he was repeatedly passed over for promotions because he is a white, heterosexual male.
The lawsuit, backed by America First Legal (AFL), was filed in early 2024 and accused CBS and its parent company, Paramount Global, of violating federal civil rights laws by implementing hiring practices that prioritized race, gender, and sexual orientation over merit. Beneker worked on SEAL Team since 2017 and had written freelance episodes across multiple seasons, but claimed he was blocked from being promoted to a staff writer role solely because he didn’t meet the network’s diversity criteria.
According to the suit, Beneker was told by the show runner that he didn’t “check any diversity boxes.” The comment was tied to CBS’s publicly stated goals at the time. In 2020, then-CEO George Cheeks announced that 40% of all writers’ rooms on the network’s primetime series would be staffed with BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) writers by 2021-22, with a further goal that “half of all writers” would be nonwhite by the 2022-2023 season.
Although CBS did not admit wrongdoing, the company opted to settle the suit this month rather than proceed with extended litigation. Terms of the agreement remain confidential, but Beneker has since agreed to voluntarily dismiss the case.
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Hiring should be based on merit. Skin color should not be an issue. I have never asked for a job because of my skin color or ethnicity. I have had no difficulty in working with people of various origins.
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