Overview
- Joseph E. Jerome, a Paramount veteran from 1994 to 2024 and a senior legal executive for Entertainment Tonight, filed the suit in California federal court.
- The complaint says three CBS Media Ventures attorneys, all white and over 50, were terminated and replaced by younger hires from minority groups.
- Jerome alleges he was replaced by 25-year-old former CMV intern and law graduate Katelyn Segrest, while colleagues David Andriole and Edith Walters were succeeded by Jubine David Sadighi and Thu Duong.
- Court documents attribute the termination decisions to Nicole Harris Johnson, who led CBS Legal’s DEI committee, and recount a 2023 meeting where then-president Wendy McMahon pressed for younger hires to attract younger viewers.
- Paramount has not responded to requests for comment, and the case arrives after CBS Studios settled a related discrimination suit and following Skydance’s acquisition of Paramount that removed company DEI programs.