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8 months ago
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The DEI wars that are raging in Red State America have made their long-expected arrival in Hollywood. With support from one of Donald Trump‘s closest aides, a SEAL Team staffer has filed a discrimination lawsuit against CBS and Paramount Global claiming he was denied a writing positioning on the show because of being a straight white guy.
‘Defendants failed to hire or promote Mr. Beneker due to his race, sex, and heterosexuality,” the jury trial seeking complaint from long time SEAL Team script coordinator and freelance scribe Ben Beneker bluntly says. Beneker complains in the complaint that he has suffered by not being part of “the favored hiring groups; that is, they were nonwhite, LGBTQ, or female,” and the “illegal policy” of increasingly attacked diversity, equity and inclusion measures.
Read SEAL Team staffer Bob Beneker’s discrimination lawsuit against CBS & Paramount Global here
In fact, Beneker claims in 2019 he directly asked current showrunner Spencer Hudnut why a man had been hired as a staff writer by previous showrunner John Glen after the TV EP told him “there were already too many staff writers and there was no room for CBS to hire” him.
“Hudnut indicated it was because he was black,” the complaint asserts, with no additional evidence submitted.
“This balancing policy has created a situation where heterosexual, white men need ‘extra’ qualifications (including military experience or previous writing credits) to be hired as staff writers when compared to their nonwhite, LGBTQ, or female peers, who require no such ‘extra’ qualifications,’ the filing adds while taking swipes at writers assistants and others who were promoted.
While continuing his job as script coordinator, Beneker penned three episodes of the David Boreanaz-led series back in 2019. He was another one supposedly set to be the eighth episode of the upcoming seventh and final season.
The February 29th filed suit from Beneker seeks $500,000 and “an injunction requiring Defendants to offer Plaintiff a full-time job as a producer.”
Backed by former Trump White House advisor Stephen Miller’s nonprofit, Beneker also desires the federal court issue a declaratory judgment that CBS and Paramount Global’s ‘de facto hiring policy violates” the Civil Rights Act of 1964.” Plus he wants a ‘permanent injunction barring the Defendants from violating applicable nondiscrimination laws.”
Now let’s put some realpolitick on the table.
The money is one thing, as are the other court order relief in this grievance filled battle against Paramount Global’s so-called “balancing policy.” However, Beneker will almost certainly find himself coming up short in securing a staff writer slot on SEAL Team. The deep in production show is ending in the next year after its upcoming seventh season on Paramount+ — which means it will be done and dusted a long time before this sideshow goes to trial, let alone gets a verdict.
But Beneker and his America First Legal Foundation lawyers know that. That’s not the real goal here in what is clearly another culture war shot across Tinseltown’s bow in this year of election. The real goal is scoring points against the source of some of the Democrats’ biggest donations, and juicing up the MAGA base.
Slammed in the 12-page complaint for violating the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with their corporate inclusion and representation polices, CBS and Paramount Global declined to comment on Beneker’s action today. To that end, If or when they do, this post will be updated.
Deadline has also reached out to showrunner Hudnut’s agency CAA for a statement on the remarks and implications attributed to the industry vet in Brenker’s suit. If or when we hear back from them, we will also update this post.
Beneker has worked on the soon to shutter SEAL Team since 2017 and before that was a script coordinator on Sons of Anarchy, Missing and other shows.
Telling of where this is coming from and going, Beneker is represented by San Diego firm JW Howard Attorneys and the America First Legal Foundation. Ever since the Supreme Court knocked down Affirmative Action policies in colleges and universities admissions last year, AFLF has been filing suits with the likes of Starbucks, Morgan Stanley and other companies in an attempt to end inclusion practices at said companies. They haven’t exactly been big winners in the courts so far.
