Tagged: music Agent
how sound are William Morris’ employment decisions, if the Agent Trainee they promoted to book urban contemporary acts in or around the time i submitted my resume, quit less than six months after being promoted to Agent? either way, he and the company were violating the Talent Agencies Act because he was not “licensed” to book artists before he was promoted to Agent.
She couldn’t and didn’t want to “mentor” and/or “promote” me because I was a threat to her monopolistic control over representing African American entertainers in urban contemporary music and the company had been engaging in an intentional pattern and practice of excluding qualified African Americans from being hired and/or promoted to higher status, higher paying jobs (e.g. Agent, Agent Trainee) since 1898 and still had zero African American Agents, Coordinators or Agent Trainees when I began employment in the New York office, September 2008. (“inexorable zero”) As a matter of law, this statistic alone can create “an inference” of racial discrimination, and can support [in addition to the extensive sociological jurisprudence cited] my claims that I entered into an insidiously discriminatory work environment or that many of the allegedly “negative” evaluations I received were due to the explicit and/or implicit racial biases of the evaluator. I was more qualified than majority, if not all, of my similarly situated white/”Jewish” counterparts that were hired into the Agent Trainee program during my employment, and I was more than qualified to have been hired as a music Agent. Based on my qualifications and relevant work experience, this would have happened had I been white and/or “Jewish.” No matter how well I got along with people or how nice some people may have appeared to be, racism was embedded into the culture of the company, and it didn’t help that the company was founded and over-represented by a group of people who falsely believe that they are “God’s chosen people” and walk around like their own shit doesn’t stink. [The original Jews are not European and/or white — something I did not know while working at the company.] This also did not help my chances of advancing [From 2000 to 2010, white/”Jewish Agent Trainees in the New York office had a reported 10 percent rate of promotion to Agent while African American Agent Trainees had a zero percent rate of promotion. Also, in the first decade of the 21st century, only one African American was hired to work as an Agent in the New York office (e.g., Mamie Baron, the first African American literary Agent in the department’s then 58 year history). When I began employment, there were 50 Agents employed. One was Asian, and the rest were white/ “Jewish. This is not accidental or “due to chance.” The company is highly conscious of race.]
When I began this case nearly four years ago, Michael P. Zweig and Christian Carbone of Loeb & Loeb LLP argued that my employment discrimination claims were “wholly without merit, legally and factually,” yet, they have not refuted the pyramid of historical, statistical, circumstantial, anecdotal, smoking gun, documentary and other forms of evidence supporting all of the claims that I have raised not only against William Morris, Loeb & Loeb LLP, Michael P. Zweig and Christian Carbone, but P. Kevin Castel, the American Arbitration Association, Timothy K. Lewis, Schnader LLP, THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and others that are involved in this sinister conspiracy to interfere with the human rights of people of African descent, or in the alternative, conspiracy to maintain global white/”Jewish” supremacy (racism). Through fraud, William Morris has won another racial discrimination case in the federal court while evidence of intentional systemic disparate treatment have been ignored by the finders of fact, been awarded $43,707.60 due to my alleged “bad faith” conduct and received a filing injunction against me to prevent me from suing those who have conspired to ensure that I would be deprived of my full constitutional and statutory rights under the color of law! AmeriKKKan justice at its finest. America cannot survive too much longer under these conditions. No country could. President Obama and Congress need to step in immediately and rectify this issue. P. Kevin Castel needs to be impeached. Extreme disciplinary and monetary sanctions need to be imposed against William Morris, Loeb & Loeb LLP, Michael P. Zweig and Christian Carbone, including default judgment, disbarment and $250 million.
The conclusions contained in the longitudinal study Discrimination and Desegregation: Equal Opportunity Progress in U.S. Private Sector Workplaces mirror the workplace trends of William Morris over the past four decades. This study was one of the “first to produce long-time trends on workplace equal employment outcomes” by comparing the fates of black, white, Hispanic and Asian men and women over a period of 36 years (from 1966 through 2002). The researchers concluded: “…from documenting these basic trends..while almost all workplaces have incorporated women and racial/ethnic minorities as employees, status segregation within workplaces remain very high, white males continue to have advantaged access to the best quality jobs, most racial progress in EEO stalled after 1980, and white women seem to have benefited the most from the struggles for EEO.”
in order for the finder of fact to uphold the unconscionable arbitration agreement I signed as a condition of employment at William Morris, they must ignore the UNREFUTED pyramid of evidence demonstrating the company’s 110 year history of engaging in intentional, systemic disparate treatment against qualified African Americans in employment.
Without knowing anything about William Morris’ history of racism, I waived my full statutory rights within the first 30 minutes of employment. I started the Agent Trainee program with two other individuals — a white female and a white/”Jewish” male. I don’t think any of us knew what arbitration was exactly, but we had no problems signing the various agreements in order to work for one of the most prestigious talent agencies in Hollywood. It never crossed my mind that William Morris could be racist because of the fact that the company represented so many notable African American entertainers. It wasn’t until after I signed the agreement which waived my right to pursue any future claims of racial discrimination in the federal court, I learned shortly after, that none of the company’s Agents, Coordinators or Agents Trainees employed in the New York office were African American and that I was considerably more qualified than majority, if not all, of my white/”Jewish” counterparts in the Agent Trainee program. If the racial make up of the Agent Trainee program is more than 90 percent white/”Jewish” historically due to the company’s discriminatory employment practices, policies and procedures, are whites/”Jews” being discriminated against because of their race and/or color? It is clear that this agreement is nothing more than a “savvy legal loophole” to prevent the federal court and/or an impartial jury from ever deciding a case like mine.
Ruth Brown: “No woman has held as exalted a position in the entertainment industry as she does as founder and now president of Queen Booking Corp., one of America’s major talent booking agencies. Prior to Ruth Brown, the only black woman seen in the halls of such competitors as the William Morris Agency and Creative Management Associates [now known as Creative Artists Agency] dealt in mops and pails rather than careers and contracts.”
Ruth Brown represented acts such as Aretha Franklin and throughout her time on Earth, she was able to create a “multi-million dollar black empire.” It’s been 4o years since this article was published in Ebony, but how many African American women have been hired and/or promoted as music Agent at the major talent agencies in Hollywood in that same time span? If I were to make an educated guess, I would say the answer is less than three and none of them were employed in the 21st century. Is this America’s idea of “racial progress”? If the reason for this is NOT racial discrimination, then what explanation can be given to explain why this has happened? What’s the purpose of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, if entire industries, especially those with higher paying and higher status positions, continue to remain racially homogeneous in 2014?
Sharon Washington vs. William Morris Agency, Robert Stein et al., Los Angeles Superior Court, LASC Case Number: BC261318
LOS ANGELES–(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE) — Nov. 7, 2001
A former employee of the Los Angeles office of the William Morris Agency (WMA) sued the talent agency today, charging the company engaged in blatant discrimination against her during her six years of employment, according to a complaint filed this week (Sharon Washington vs. William Morris Agency, Robert Stein et al., Los Angeles Superior Court, LASC Case Number: BC261318).
Sharon Washington began working at WMA in March 1996 as an assistant in the motion picture department. Her attorney, Steven Fox of Davis, Fox & Berke, said: “Up until Fall 2000, Sharon was repeatedly praised for her work, especially for calmly handling stressful situations, working extra hours and bringing in new business to the agency.”
Moreover, according to Fox, “her November 2000 review stated she had the ability to be an agent, which she had repeatedly expressed interest in becoming.”
According to the complaint, in February 2001, Washington asked Richard Rosenberg, executive vice-president of WMA (Personal Appearance/Music Department), about opportunities to advance in the company to achieve an agent position. It is alleged that he dissuaded her from becoming an agent because, in his words, “blacks make better managers than agents” (managers are distinct from agents and are not employed at WMA). Of the approximately 250 or so agents at the firm, the complaint alleges that approximately four are African-American, and none work in the music department.
Washington was also allegedly told by Robert Stein, Co-Worldwide Head of Motion Pictures and agent for Arnold Schwarzennegger, that she was “too old” to become an agent. Moreover, on at least one occasion, according to the complaint, Washington was told by an agent that she would not be considered for a WMA job opening because of her gender. This discriminatory conduct violates Government Code Section 12940 et seq. On Sept. 7, 2001, Washington filed complaints against WMA and Stein with the Department of Fair Employment and Housing. On Sept. 20, she received a “right to sue” letter for each from the Department.
A large part of the complaint focuses on Stein, who, it alleges, was involved in a romantic relationship with Washington from mid-1999 until she broke it off in April 2001. Afterwards, according to the complaint, Stein acted inappropriately and continued with unwanted sexual advances. The complaint contends that once Washington ended the relationship with Stein, he told WMA management that Washington would make a bad agent, which goes against her performance reviews. He also refused to interview her for the agent training program.
The working conditions became intolerable for Washington at WMA, and she was forced to resign. Fox stated: “It’s amazing that an agency such as WMA, with its diverse client base, would allow such discriminatory in-house practices.”
I knew about this case when I filed my complaint, but there are a lot of new details that I’m now seeing three years later which further support my overall claims. Not only does it further demonstrate the company’s pattern and continuing practice of discrimination, it’s important because I argue that I should have been hired as a music Agent based on my qualifications. One of the top music Agents at William Morris’ New York office also tried to discourage me from being an Agent, and suggested that I — the only African American employed at any level of the Agent Trainee program (Agent Trainee, Coordinator, Agent) — do artist management or become an A&R instead because it was “more creative.” Also, there has been, to my knowledge, zero African American music Agents employed at William Morris’ New York office since 2000, yet, most of the African American artists in contemporary urban music were signed by Agents in that office. In Rowe Entertainment v. William Morris Agency et al. (98-8272), the backup tapes that were searched were from 1998-1999 and the names that appear on “Exhibit 31″ are all employed in the Beverly Hills office — the same office where Sharon Washington worked!!!! Meaning, she worked amongst predominately all-White/”Jewish” Agents who were referring to African Americans in their e-mails as “nigger,” “nigga,” “coon,” “monkey” and “Uncle Tom” to name a few. [further proof that it doesn’t matter if racism is BLATANT or OVERT in the modern day workplace!] Like her, I felt the working conditions in the New York office became intolerable and I eventually was constructively discharged after discussing my concerns of discrimination with upper management. Additionally, Richard Rosenberg’s name is now familiar, because he was one of the key music Agents (5 in total from William Morris) whose e-mails were supposed to have been searched during e-discovery in Rowe, and given that his name does not appear on “Exhibit 31,” this adds another layer to the overall conspiracy that took place between Rowe’s former attorneys at SNR (now known as Dentons LLP), Loeb & Loeb LLP and Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP to defraud the class of black concert promoters from winning their antitrust and civil rights case against William Morris and Creative Artists Agency.
Me Against Iniquity: Understanding the Complexities of Global White Supremacy (Racism) Through The Eyes of an Unapologetically BLACK Intellectual 