NEW YORK _ Two former employees from "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" claim NBC fired them at the behest of bandleader Questlove.
Camera operators Kurt Decker and Michael Cimino filed a lawsuit against the musician and NBC, claiming that Questlove "pressured NBC to fire all of the Caucasian employees involved in the incident," first reported by The Blast.
Decker and Cimino claim they, as well as Roots bassist Mark Kelley, received "an unsolicited racist and misogynist text message from a Tonight Show stagehand" in June.
The two men claim in the lawsuit, acquired by the New York Daily News, that they reported the text to The Roots manager and an NBC technical production manager. They say they were both suspended, but Kelley was not.
The lawsuit also claims that Questlove wanted "all of the Caucasian employees involved" fired, including Decker and Cimino, but no punishment for Kelley.
"The bottom line is that discrimination is discrimination, no matter your ethnicity, race or creed," Richard Roth, who is representing Decer and Cimino, told the Daily News.
NBC told the Daily News that the company is "committed to providing a work environment in which all individuals are treated with respect and dignity."
"We have strong policies in place that protect against discrimination in any form," a spokesperson said. "The decision about these plaintiffs was the company's alone."
A source also told the Daily News that Decker and Cimino failed to report the text, which violated company policy.
Reps for Questlove did not immediately return requests for comment.
