Silke Jasso
It appears the tide of lawsuits against Fox News continues to flow in, as yet another employee is preparing to take legal action against the company. Anchor Kelly Wright joined a group that is accusing the network of racial discrimination, reports Business Insider.
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Wright’s lawsuit details some of the inappropriate and racially charged comments he endured at the network. He was once told that he had “too much of an afro” and even cited jokes that he dye his hair blond for more airtime. Wright asserts that he was often passed over for promotions, which often went to his white colleagues. He also alleges he was meant to portray a stereotypical “Jim Crow caricature.”
RELATED: Following Bill O’Reilly’s exit, Fox News is reportedly making some administrative changes
Though Wright had been with the network since 2003, he said, “I could no longer sit in silence, collect my paycheck and act like I didn’t experience racial bias on my own level as an on-air personality.”
“Rather than viewing Mr. Wright as the two-time Emmy award recipient he is, Mr. O’Reilly saw Mr. Wright as a singing entertainer,” explained Douglas Wigdor, Wright’s attorney. Wigdor said in a press conference that former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly rejected Wright’s Ferguson, Mo., coverage “because it showed Blacks in ‘too positive’ a light.”
O’Reilly was recently let go from the network following various accusations of sexual harassment.
