Trey Sherman, a former associate producer at CBS News, was among the staffers recently let go as part of Paramount Skydance, the network’s parent company’s latest wave of layoffs. However, he dropped a serious allegation against the company after he was ousted.
Sheman claimed that the recent job cuts were unfair because it was a ‘race-based’ layoffs. He said that every producer from his team who lost their jobs was a person of colour, adding that the Whites were retained and only reassigned to another post within the company. The New York Post reported that he aired his frustrations and disappointments on TikTok.
Inside the Claims: Why Trey Sherman Says the Layoffs Were Race-Based
The former associate producer said he began to suspect discrimination after asking his teammates individually whether they had also been laid off. He learned that all of his White colleagues remained employed, while the employees of color on his team were let go.
Sherman then asked his supervisor to explain the basis for the job cuts. Although the executive said he had attempted to place him in another position, Sherman insisted this was false and that the supervisor had ‘lied to his face.’
‘I just got laid off from my job at CBS, and every producer on my team who got laid off is a person of colour,’ he said in his TikTok post. ‘Every person who gets to stay and will be relocated within the company is a White person.’
He added that it wasn’t until he went downstairs that he realised only Black employees had been affected. When he asked each of his White colleagues whether they had been laid off, every one of them said ‘no.’
‘And I come to find out it was not his (supervisor’s) decision to eliminate the show that I worked for, but he did get to decide who got to stay. So I told him, “You said that you couldn’t get us relocated, only to find out that you were able to get some people relocated, and they all happen to be White. Am I supposed to believe that that’s a coincidence? And he said ‘yes.”‘
Sherman said he confronted the executive again, telling him directly that he lied to his face. He believed the supervisor never actually intended to keep him on staff. The executive also told the former producer that he kept staff members he had ‘worked with before,’ prompting Sherman to label the decision ‘racist,’ arguing that the layoffs were not based on merit.
Axed Shows Amid Layoffs: CBS Pulls the Plug on Two Digital News Programs
While Sherman’s claims are significant, CBS News and Paramount Skydance have not publicly addressed the matter. Attempts by various media outlets to obtain the company’s side were met with no comment.
Meanwhile, roughly 100 employees in the news division were let go in the latest round of cuts. Two streaming programs – CBS Evening News and CBS Mornings – were also canceled, and the network’s Race and Culture Unit that was founded in July 2020, was disbanded.
Originally published on IBTimes UK
