Three former and current Fox News employees along with their attorney, Douglas Wigdor, appeared on Good Morning America to speak out about what they call a pervasive culture of racial discrimination at the Fox News Network, under their former boss Judith Slater who was the comptroller at the network. Tabrese White, Monica Douglas, and Tichaona Brown filed a lawsuit against the network and Slater accusing them of racial discrimination.
“Walking down the hallway if you encountered Judith Slater, she would put up her hands you know in this motion, I guess, mocking the Black Lives Matter movement, walking to the bathroom, even saying goodnight to her, she required us to say goodnight at 6 or whatever time you are leaving, and instead of saying good night, it was ‘hands up don’t shoot’ that was the tipping point for me, ” Brown, a former payroll manager at Fox News said.
Tabrese White, a current Fox News employee, claims that Slater would refer to her division as the urban payroll division. Another employee, Monica Douglas, told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that Slater mocked her cancer diagnosis.
“She would often call me out, ‘cancer girl,’ or one boob girl,” Douglas said. ‘In the normal course of business in front of my staff.”
The original complaint against the network was filed at the end of March, but was re-filed Tuesday to add an additional plaintiff, Douglas, to the claim. The complaint alleges that their former boss ridiculed black employees by mocking “stereotyped speech and complained, for example, that black employees mispronounce the words, mother, father, month, and ask.” According to the suit, Slater openly claimed the “Black Lives Matter” movement was racist, and feared that black people wanted to physically harm white people. Slater has since been fired Fox News.
A spokesperson for Fox News has issued the following statement:
“We take complaints of this nature very seriously and took prompt and effective remedial action in terminating Judy Slater before Ms. Brown, Ms. Wright and Ms. Douglas sued in court and even before Ms. Wright and Ms. Douglas complained through their lawyer…There is no place for conduct like this at Fox News, which is why Ms. Slater was fired.