A gay man is suing Fremantle Media North America Inc. and other entities and individuals, alleging he was wrongfully fired in 2024 for complaining of age, gender and sexual orientation as well as for anxiety suffered for being confined aboard a cruise ship after his passport was taken.
Matthew D’Acquisto’s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit allegations include discrimination, harassment, whistleblower retaliation, breach of contract, intentional infliction of emotional distress and false imprisonment. He seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
A Fremantle representative did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the suit brought Wednesday.
D’Acquisto, who is gay, was hired in 2017 as the director of gaming systems. Two years later, he created a database to manage game show material and he was to be paid an additional $9,000 per show to allow Fremantle and the others to use the information, his suit states.
In 2022, D’Acquisto was sent to work for on a cruise ship, but management confiscated the plaintiff’s passport and confined him to the ship for an extended period of time, causing him significant anxiety, according to the complaint. D’Acquisto’s complaints to several executives were disregarded and no investigation was ordered, the suit alleges.
A year later D’Acquisto began treatment for skin cancer and said he would need occasional leave time, but instead of being understanding, an executive accused him of trying to make people feel guilty about his condition, the suit states.
“D’Acquisto was deeply offended by this accusation,” the suit states.
The executive stripped D’Acquisto of the additional pay he received for the database he created and ordered the plaintiff to assign the rights and interest to his database to Fremantle and the other defendants, the suit states. In addition, last June the executive hired a woman younger than the plaintiff to take over the department he had overseen, the suit further alleges.
D’Acquisto’s suit alleges that throughout his employment Fremantle showed preferential treatment to women, with concerted efforts to hire and train them while their errors were “brushed under the rug.”
The executive called D’Acquisto and another gay employee “divas,” but once again the plaintiff’s complaint was ignored and nothing was done, the suit states. D’Acquisto went on family leave in September and was fired in December, with management telling him they were “going in a different direction,” the suit states.
D’Acquisto has experienced both emotional distress and financial losses since losing his job, the suit states.