Omar Butcher, an African-American Christian associate producer from CNN, was fired from his job in July last year, he says after he accused some of his colleagues of racial and religious discrimination. Now, he is suing them for wrongful termination.
Butcher complained that his colleagues were using "profane language" such as "Jesus Christ" and "God damn," according to The Daily Mail. He even wrote an email to anchor Ashleigh Banfield, expressing concerns why she asked during an on-air segment whether society had "lost a generation" because of the violence in the African-American community. A day after doing so, he was fired.
In his lawsuit against the cable news network based in Atlanta, Georgia, Butcher described himself as a "devout Christian" who had worked at CNN until he was fired last year.
Butcher said he got upset after hearing certain members of his team take the Lord's name in vain in his presence, and he asked them not to do so. However, they paid no heed to his request and even increased their use of profanity just to rile him up.
One time, things got so bad that Butcher walked out on his team because his colleagues refused to stop swearing despite his pleas. After he walked out, he claims the Vice President of Dayside Programming warned him not to do it again or face repercussions.
Last March and April, Butcher once again expressed his concerns to the HR department about a colleague's "obvious and negative sounding comment about the increase in African American voices on our air" and "the hostile and negative climate" at the company.
Then in July, he felt "extremely troubled" about the "racially insensitive" remarks made by Banfield. After sending her an email about it, Banfield wrote back and asked if Butcher was suggesting she was "racist." She said she would take the issue up with their bosses, so she sent a copy of the email to senior management.
Butcher also claimed he missed out on several promotion opportunities because of his race, alleging that there were several instances when his white colleagues were promoted ahead of him despite his ability.
He is now seeking to get full back pay from the day he was terminated and wants to be reinstated to his former position with the same pay grade. Butcher is also demanding complete benefits and pension as well as compensatory and punitive damages together with his attorney fees.
