Gabrielle Union has spoken more about her feelings regarding the America’s Got Talent investigation into why she was terminated from the show.
As a guest on Trevor Noah’s The Daily Social Distancing Show, Union said that among dealing with Simon Cowell smoking inside despite the health and safety hazards it poses to others, she also believes that NBC, Fremantle and Cowell’s Syco still don’t understand how racism impacts the AGT set.
“When your boss, the person who has the ability to determine who gets opportunities, believes the law doesn’t apply to him…and he does it in full view of NBC and Fremantle and Syco,” she said. “And no one cares he’s exposing employees to second hand smoke–that’s day one, that’s within the first hour–what message do you think that sends to anyone that has an issue with the very real racism and lack of accountability?”
“When NBC and Fremantle and Syco pay for that investigation, they control it,” she continued, discussing how she was “silly” for thinking the investigation would actually be independent, as the powers that be assured the public it would be. She also accused NBC chairman Paul Telegdy for using “inflammatory things or things that are not advantageous to me” to shoot down Union’s allegations.
“[Telegdy utilized] those things that he thinks are smoking guns to shoot down my claims,” she said. “He threatens my agent, ‘Gabrielle better what who she calls a racist’ in the middle of an investigation about racism and discrimination. That is what’s happening from the top of the company.”
Union has since filed another complaint against AGT in the hopes that the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing will investigate her firing. As previously reported, Union believes that her insistence on speaking up against racist and sexist behavior led to the show releasing her as a judge.
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Photo: The Daily Show
