A former CBS anchor in Los Angeles sued the network and Paramount Global for $5 million, alleging it dabbled in “anti-white discrimination” by firing and replacing him with a younger person of color.
Jeff Vaughn, a former anchor at KCAL who covered news at 8 p.m., claimed in a lawsuit filed on Monday that he was told in 2022 his contract would not be renewed without a concrete reason. However, he alleged it was because of the company’s efforts to bolster its diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.
“He was fired because he is an older, white, heterosexual, male,” the suit states.
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Vaughn’s lawsuit, which was filed in California, is backed by America First Legal, a conservative group run by ex-Donald Trump adviser Stephen Miller dedicated to combating DEI initiatives. It’s the same group that backed former Seal Team SIX script coordinator Brian Beneker in a lawsuit in May, where Beneker claimed he was repeatedly passed over for jobs because he is white.
Vaughn claimed a de facto-DEI mandate came after CBS News President Wendy McMahon was promoted in 2021 with a promise to hire more women and people of color in roles. He claims that, since he was neither of those, he was eventually let go—but not before getting passed over for the company’s 20th-anniversary special commemorating 9/11.
He also claimed the company tried to get him to say on-air that he was leaving voluntarily, which he refused to do. Eventually, he claimed, the company made the remark on the air after his last day, saying he “didn’t want to make a big fuss about leaving.”
”That statement was false,” the suit states. “Mr. Vaughn did not decide to leave.”
Attorneys for Vaughn did not immediately respond to a request for comment. CBS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
