Photo Credit: Ayanna McKnight
Just weeks short of a year since leaving America’s Got Talent and a litany of accusations about racism within NBC that pushed Gabrielle Union, she finally came to an amicable resolution with the network. A joint statement came from NBC and union on Tuesday, Sept. 29th saying that the network was vowing to do better.
“We’ve reached an amicable resolution,” the joint statement read. “NBC Entertainment appreciates the important concerns raised by Gabrielle Union and remains committed to ensuring an inclusive and supportive working environment where people of all backgrounds can be treated with respect.”
This comes after Union filed a complaint to the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing citing a “toxic culture,” racism and harassment from her time on America’s Got Talent after not returning for the 14th season. The Associated Press quoted her complaint as saying, “Union, a black woman, was singled out due to her physical appearance and discriminated against by NBC due to the fact that her hair did not fit within the white image that NBC apparently sought to convey to the audience.” NBC on the other hand called the allegations “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,” the network said in June.
We’re simply happy to see a resolution between these two. Claims of Union’s hair being “too black” and rules of no smoking being broken by are quite common workplace issues. There are states passing hair discrimination laws now because there are ethnic hairstyles blacks get attacked for wearing all of the time, unfortunately and this is a reminder that work on equality still needs to be done.
