Questlove, NBC Sued For Racial Discrimination

The Roots

Two former “Tonight Show” employees claim NBC fired them at the behest of Questlove, frontman for the music group The Roots, houseband for Jimmy Fallon show.

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 NYDailyNews, 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 bottom line is that discrimination is discrimination, no matter your ethnicity, race or creed," Richard Roth, who is representing Decer and Cimino, told The News.

NBC told The 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."

"Racism is REAL and exists throughout the world and for these gentlemen to claim victim is not only disrespectful to Questlove and his band mates, but to all that truly endure racism on a daily basis," a spokesperson said. "As NBC already stated, the decisions made regarding these employees were made by NBC, alone."