Producer Claims Al Roker’s Company Fired Him for Supporting Black Staff
A notorious animated series producer has filed a lawsuit against famed weatherman Al Roker and his production company for retaliation while neglecting diversity television hires.
In the suit that was filed this week and shared by The Hollywood Reporter, Al Roker Entertainment and its subsidiary WeatherHunters, Inc. “wrongfully and illegally” fired Bill Schultz, who is well-known for The Simpsons’ golden years, King of the Hill, and countless children’s cartoons like Ed, Edd, and Eddy and Courage the Cowardly Dog. Schultz, who is white, claimed that he blew the whistle on alleged racial discrimination directed towards people of color and was ultimately terminated.
“Surprisingly, here, where the control person is Al Roker, a leading African American media personality and the [Weather Hunters] concept is focused on an African American Family and was inclusively developed for PBS’s importantly diverse children’s audience, the issue that doomed Mr. Schultz and led to his wrongful termination and the wholesale breach of contract was the issue of racial diversity,” read the lawsuit.