Viacom International Services Inc. and Paramount Global are being sued by a former content development manager who alleges he was terminated this summer in a backlash for complaining about a lack of diversity as well as the legality of the defendants’ use of artificial intelligence.
Shawn David Wu’s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit alleges whistleblower retaliation, discrimination and failure to prevent retaliation and harassment. Wu seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
Representatives for the defendants did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the suit brought Thursday.
Wu was hired in August 2018 as an executive assistant in the preschool production and development unit of the defendants’ Nickelodeon division and worked with artists, writers and producers to develop pre-school television series and content. He was promoted the next year to development coordinator and in 2021 to content development manager.
The companies assigned a group of employees, including Wu, to promote diversity hiring and content within the company, the suit states. Through emails and during meetings, Wu raised his concerns about the alleged lack of diversity and among the staff and as well as “ongoing patterns of discrimination,” according to the suit.
“Furthermore, plaintiff discussed the need to incorporate diversity within the creators and creative leaders of the content production,” according to the suit, which alleges that the companies began to retaliate against him instead of addressing the issues he raised.
Wu’s supervisors called him names and said he was being “condescending,” “insulting” and “alienating,” the suit states. The bosses also told him that he would be excluded from important meetings and conversations if he kept up his complaints, according to the suit.
Wu believes that earlier this year, the companies began obtaining AI from outside sources that held the copyrights, the suits tates.
“This posed series of legal and ethical issues regarding the copyright of the content that was being obtained and used without giving adequate credits to the appropriate people and/or companies,” according to the suit.
The defendants resorted to intimidation and harassment against Wu and terminated him Aug. 16 using the excuse that his job was eliminated, according to the suit, which further alleges Wu has suffered lost income and psychological distress from losing his job.