Workers say game shows discriminate
Civil rights complaints filed against 'Jeopardy' 'Wheel of fortune'
By: Jessica Guynn
and Felecia Wellington Radel
USA Today
..... Executives at "Jeopardy!" and "Wheel of Fortune" discriminated against people of color, then fired them for raising concerns about a toxic work environment, two former employees claim in civil right complaints obtained by USA Today.
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The two former Sony Pictures entertainment workers said they were constantly given fewer opportunities than white colleagues and were routinely objected to racially insensitive behavior.
..... Shelly Ballance Ellis, 60, said she was the highest-ranking Black production executive on the game show. Over her 26-year tenure, she said, she was loaded with extra responsibilities but passed over for promotions.
..... Monique Diaz, 48, who is Latina and worked on the shows for 23 years, said she was paid substantially less than a newly hired white colleague.
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In April, [2024] Ballance Ellis and Diaz were laid off in what the company said was a corporate reorganization.
..... "The truth is that I and others were targeted by Sony because we opposed discrimination," Ballance Ellis said in her complaint. "Sony simultaneously "reorganized' the positions form my team of diverse employees ( who are over 40 years old) and replaced them with mostly younger white employees."
..... Attorneys Peter Romer-Friedman and Hillary Benham-Baker, who represent the two women, said Sony violated California civil rights laws. "What happed to Shelly and her colleagues behind the closed doors of production should not happen, and it was unlawful," Benham-Baker told USA Today.
..... In a statement, Sony said the new leadership team at "Jeopardy" and "wheel of Fortune" are :dedicated to fostering a culture of exclusivity and respect."
..... "Sony Pictures Entertainment takes all allegations of discrimination very seriously. Earlier this year [2024] there was a broad reorganization of our game show group that resulted in the elimination of several roles to address redundancies and evolving business needs of a 40-plus-year-old operation. Those eliminations were business efficiency decisions and not retaliatory," the statement said.
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The allegation come amid rising tensions over persistent opportunity gaps for talent form diverse backgrounds in the entertainment industry.
..... In an exclusive interview with USA Today, Ballance Ellis said people from marginalized backgrounds are often overlooked and undervalued in Hollywood where mostly white power brokers decide who gets jobs and which stories are told on screen.
..... Ballance Ellis' family has deep roots in the entertainment business - her father was a studio executive, and her grandparents owned Los Angeles' historic Ebony Showcase Theater - so she said she felt a responsibility to "use her voice for good" in an industry in which few people of color speak out.
..... "I hope that this will be an opportunity for any entertainment executive to look at themselves and really take an open, honest look," she told USA Today.
..... "Jeopardy" and "wheel of fortune: are mainstays of U.S. television and major financial contributors to Sony entertainment.
..... In her complaint, Ballance Ellis said the company tolerate racially insensitive jokes about Black contestants.
..... At a "Wheel of Fortune" production meeting in 2020, a Blake employee said he overheard colleagues saying a Black woman's locs hairstyle reminded them of the movie "The elephant Man."
..... When the show's director responded that he and the crew members were just joking, Ballance Ellis said in her complaint that she commented: "which part is funny?"
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Ballance Ellis said she also raised concerns about biased "Jeopardy!: clues and advocated for "more inclusive, nuanced clues about people from diverse backgrounds.
..... For example, in 1999 in the "black History" category, the clue was: "The black population of these U.S. areas, the destination of '"white flight,' doubled in the 1970s and 1980s." the answer was "the suburbs."
..... That is not Blake history of anything" she said.
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In 2017, "wheel of fortune" issued an apology after the show's "southern Charm Week" showed host Pat Sajak and Vannna White in front of a plantation and two slave reenactors in rebellion dress. But last year, [2023] a Black employee was told to cerate a shot list of plantation footage the producers were considering for Sajak's retirement sendoff Ballance Ellis said. Objections from staff members were ignored, she said.
..... Ballance Ellis said her own experiences with discrimination at "Jeopardy" and "Wheel of Fortune" were painful episodes in a job she otherwise loved.
..... Even when she was assigned additional responsibilities when three producers left the company, she said, she was not considered for promotions.
..... Diaz told USA Today she enjoyed working with her supervisor, Ballance Ellis, and team, but she grew enterprisingly troubled how nonwhite contestants were treated and employees; concerns about racial bias disregarded.
..... "I learned early on that there were different roles for different people and it was disheartening," Diaz said.
..... In 2020, Diaz said, a production supervisor mocked Black comedian Lesilie Jones' request to bring her own hairstylist for her appearance as a celebrity contest net on "Wheel of Fortune." for years, Black actors have complained they have to either do their own hair or sit through a stylist who does not know how to.
..... Another employee approached Diaz in 2023 to share that a supervising producer made a comment about Black people's skin "not aging as rapidly as while people's skin."
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"I felt the environment was very discriminatory," she said.
..... Diaz said she learned that firsthand when she found out that she was earning about $50,000 a year less than a new white colleague doing the same work. she said she filed a complaint but got no response.
..... Ballance Ellis advocated for an equity pay adjustment but the supervising producer refused to take action, so Ballance Ellis said she turned to Sony's chief diversity officer. Diaz said she got a pay bump but still earned $15,000 less a year than her colleague.