Gabrielle Union wants "bad apples" in the showbiz industry to be held "accountable" for their actions.
The 47-year-old actress was recently spoke out against ‘America’s Got Talent’ producers after she filed a complaint about "toxic" behaviour on set during her time as a judge on the show, which she quit after just one season because of the alleged racial bias and discrimination she faced.
And now, Gabrielle has said she wants to see more people held accountable for their actions, with "real consequences" facing those who don’t promote diversity and representation.
She said: "We have been so committed as an industry – and every industry’s facing the same thing – with going along to get along. Trying to figure out how you work around the bad apples, as opposed to addressing and making those bad apples accountable and there being real consequences.
"In front of and behind the camera, there has to be an increase in representation across the board, from the top to the bottom. Who gets to make the decisions of which projects to green light? Who is a part of those development processes? Who gets to determine budgets? Who gets to determine who gets opportunities and why?"
Before Gabrielle made her discrimination complaint, NBC ran an independent investigation into her claims, and the ‘Being Mary Jane’ star now says she agreed to participate in the investigation in the hopes she would accomplish her goals of "change," "treating employees fairly," and holding "the people at the very top accountable".
But the star claims the investigation wasn’t conducted the way she had hoped.
She explained during an appearance on ‘The Daily Social Distancing Show With Trevor Noah’: "They were like, ‘We’re going to commission this independent investigation.’ Well, silly me. I thought independent was independent, but when NBC and Fremantle and Syco pay for that investigation, they control it. They turn over what they believe to be inflammatory things, or things that are not advantageous to me, over to the head of NBC, Paul Telegdy, who uses those things that he thinks are smoking guns to shoot down my claims. He then threatens my agent [by saying,] ‘Gabrielle better watch who she calls a racist’ in the middle of an investigation about racism and discrimination. This is what’s happening from the top of the company."
Gabrielle lodged an official complaint for "harassment, discrimination and retaliation" with California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing in Los Angeles earlier this month.
The complaint has since been closed, as Gabrielle requested an immediate right to sue, which she was granted.