Gabrielle Union, America’s Got Talent, and the Time’s Up Lessons Hollywood Refuses to Learn

And it’s not just NBC, of course. Earlier this year, following Les Moonves’s fall from the highest seat at Black Rock, a former CBS executive, Whitney Davis, who finished her tenure as CBS’s director of entertainment diversity and inclusion, detailed what she described as the Eye’s “white problem,” and the network’s offer of $50,000 after she hired a workplace-discrimination attorney to negotiate her exit package—a deal she ultimately turned down. Actress Afton Williamson left ABC’s The Rookie after what she described as racial discrimination and inappropriate comments from the show’s executive producers; an internal investigation by the show’s production studio, eOne, concluded that no inappropriate behavior had taken place.

Time’s Up Now president and CEO Tina Tchen alluded to this precise pattern of marginalization within the industry in a statement from the organization on Monday, writing, in part, “Gabrielle Union’s experience at America’s Got Talent is exemplary of the double bind that black women face at work. Not only did Union reportedly endure and witness racist and inappropriate behavior—including racially insensitive comments and excessive criticism about her physical appearance—but it also appears she was punished for speaking out: the company labeled her as ‘difficult’ before ousting her from the show altogether. Union’s story is deeply troubling on its own, but her experience is particularly problematic because it follows a pattern of NBCUniversal protecting the careers of powerful men at the expense of women who speak out.”

What’s striking, however, is how unprepared for this blowback NBC seems to have been; after releasing a statement on November 26 that claimed “NBC and the producers take any issue on set seriously” and praised the show’s “long history” of inclusivity, a follow-up statement released Sunday announced, “We are working with Ms. Union through her representatives to hear more about her concerns, following which we will take whatever next steps may be appropriate.” But Union’s influence, both within Hollywood and outside it, should have been readily apparent to them; as Variety noted in its initial report, the show’s social media presence doubled with the addition of Union and Julianne Hough in season 14, despite a years-long downward trend in ratings; approximately half of this season’s social interactions, Variety reported, engaged directly with Union, “effectively making her the most popular judge.”

Whatever NBC plans to do in the coming days and weeks, SAG-AFTRA has made clear that it is on the case. The guild announced Sunday that it has launched an investigation into how things unfolded at NBC. In a statement, the organization’s president, Gabrielle Carteris, wrote, in part, “We immediately reached out to Ms. Union’s representatives when these reports came to light…. For certain matters, our investigation and enforcement needs to happen independently and we are prepared to handle this issue accordingly, as warranted.”

Union, meanwhile, has thanked her supporters on social media, writing on Twitter last week, “So many tears, so much gratitude. THANK YOU! Just when you feel lost, adrift, alone…you got me up off the ground. Humbled and thankful, forever.” She also retweeted journalist Joelle Monique’s explanation of what constitutes a proper apology: “1. Sincerely admit wrong doing directly to the offended party. 2. Be twice as loud correcting your mistake as you were making the mistake. 3. Lay out steps to correct your behavior in the future, with the added headline, “This! This! AND THIIISSSSSSS!!!!!!”

Representatives for NBC referred VF back to the network’s most recent statement. Representatives for Fremantle, Union, SAG-AFTRA, and Cowell did not immediately respond to VF’s request for comment.

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