A former Paramount Global script supervisor is suing the company, alleging she was not allowed to return for a second season of the television show “After Midnight” because she complained about a work environment that included homophobic comments and a comparison of “downstage left” to a notorious Nazi concentration camp.
Casey Masamitsu’s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit allegations include wrongful termination, retaliation, civil rights violations, intentional infliction of emotional distress and workplace harassment. She seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
A Paramount Global representative did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the suit brought Friday.
Masamitsu became a script supervisor on “After Midnight” in January 2024, was the youngest person in the control room and, as a Japanese-American, the only minority, the suit states.
One staff member regularly intimidated Masamitsu by turning down the plaintiff’s headset volume even though Masamitsu has difficulty hearing and another co-worker harassed the plaintiff with false assessments about how she was doing her job, according to the suit.
One of Masamitsu’s alleged harassers blamed the plaintiff for an executive producer being given a screen credit above that of the fellow employee even though the plaintiff was not involved with credit placements, the suit states.
The other alleged harasser, who is white, told Masamitsu that the co-worker’s daughter was “more Japanese” than the plaintiff because the other employee’s daughter watched a lot of anime, according to the suit, which further states that the colleague further offended the plaintiff by referring to “downstage left” as “Auschwitz.”
On another occasion a stage manager allegedly made homophobic comments about male stand-ins and would not apologize when confronted by Masamitsu. Another stage manager made unwanted sexual advances toward Masamitsu and became aggressive when she truthfully told him in April 2024 that she did not know if “After Midnight” would be renewed for another season, the suit states.
Masamitsu emailed management a list of grievances concerning the alleged harassment last June and a month later was told she would not be brought back for the show’s second season, but the line producer offered to write her a letter of recommendation, the suit states.
Masamitsu has experienced lost income and suffered emotional distress since losing her job, according to her suit.
On March 26, CBS said “After Midnight” would not continue for a third season after host Taylor Tomlinson resigned to resume her standup career.