A federal judge found there was undisputed evidence that Vaughn lost his job because the network had been unhappy with his performance for years, and not because of any racial animosity.
LOS ANGELES (CN) – CBS Broadcasting Inc. won a lawsuit filed by Jeff Vaughn, a former evening news anchor at local Los Angeles stations KCBS and KCAL, who claimed he was replaced because he was an older, white, heterosexual male.
US District Judge Hernán Vera CLUE summary judgment for the network because, the judge said, “there was no ‘there’ there” to Vaughn’s claims that he was replaced by a black man just because he was white.
“The evidence does not generate a triable issue of fact as to whether race was a motivating factor,” the judge wrote. “Vaughn reads racial discrimination into facts that simply do not support that conclusion, even when viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to him.”
Vera, a Joe Biden appointee, said it was an indisputable fact that the network simply had not been happy with Vaughn’s performance for years.
In his lawsuit, Vaughn had cited his replacement in 2023 by Chauncy Clover — who network executives described as “the real deal” — along with CBS’ alleged diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and comments by an executive who compared Vaughn to Ron Burgundy, Will Ferrell’s anchorman character in the movie.
The mere fact that Vaughn’s replacement was Black, Vera wrote in his ruling Tuesday, does not support a finding that Vaughn’s race was a motivating factor in his termination, given that CBS made offers and offers to other white men for the same position before Vaughn’s firing.
As for the Ron Burgundy comparison, Vera noted that the CBS executive who made that comparison said it was her perception of Vaughn’s lack of authenticity and his talking-head anchoring style, not his race. In this respect, the comparison does not support a finding of racial hostility.
John Howard, one of Vaughn’s attorneys, referred questions about the ruling to the America First Legal Foundation — a conservative public interest organization founded by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller — which is also representing Vaughn in the lawsuit.
Vaughn unsuspecting broadcaster for $5 million two years ago, claiming he was fired by CBS and replaced because of age, race, gender and sexual orientation.
He had worked for CBS Broadcasting for 8 years, and was the evening anchor for the KCBS 5pm, KCAL 8pm and 10pm newscasts.
In May 2022, Vaughn claimed, the general manager at CBS News Los Angeles told him that he would not be working at CBS for six months and that he would be replaced.
According to Vaughn — who said in his complaint that he has more than 30 years of experience in broadcast journalism — network management did not give him a direct reason for his firing, but told him “it’s not about ratings.”
The reason he lost his job, Vaughn claimed in his lawsuit, was that CBS wanted to increase the diversity of its staff and had implemented a policy “that favored the hiring of individuals of certain groups and the firing or refusal to hire older, white, heterosexual, male males.”
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