PEOPLE Magazine has been hit with a lawsuit from a former top ranking editor who says she was stifled in her position, discriminated against and told that she didn't talk "White" enough. More inside....
Tatsha Robertson, a former Senior Editor at PEOPLE has hit the magazine with a shocking lawsuit filled with accusations of discrimination and racial bias.
As the ONLY Black editor at PEOPLE, and only one of five Black employees (at a company of 110), a few eyebrows were raised when now-former executive editor Betsy Gleick (who had a reputation for mishandling her Black employees) fired Tatsha a few months ago.
In her lawsuit, Tatsha claims PEOPLE is "a discriminatory organization run entirely by white people who intentionally focus the magazine on stories involving white people and white celebrities." In fact, Tasha revealed the mag's mantra "You know the rule — white suburban women in distress," adding, the magazine was only interested in stories involving "white, middle-class suburbia."
Specifically, Tatsha say she was treated her like a second class-citizen when she came to the magazine from her high-ranking position at ESSENCE, in 2010, and was told by Betsy,"You need to talk like everyone else here. You're not at Essence anymore."
And to make matters worse, Tatsha says she pitched a story about an African-American model who'd been killed, and Betsy told her the victim looked like a “slut” and the magazine wasn't interested.
Her lawyer, David Gottlieb of Wigdor LLP, told the NY Daily News,
"The media has a responsibility to report and act with integrity. People Magazine has betrayed that responsibility by engaging in discrimination, both in its pages and through its employment practices...One can only imagine that it will be 'business as usual' at People Magazine going forward — more white people on covers, more stories about white people, and a completely dismissive attitude towards African-American employees."
Sigh....mind you, since 2010, only 14 out of the 265 covers have been focused on African-American individuals. READ THE LEGAL DOCS HERE
Photo via Handout/AP