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HBO Sued Over ‘Overpriced, Inferior’ COVID Tests Allegedly Used on ‘Winning Time’ Set

A former health adviser for the company claims that blowing the whistle on the problems she detected with its COVID testing vendor led to her termination.

A former HBO health staffer sued the company this week, alleging she was wrongfully fired after raising the alarm about the “overpriced, inferior” COVID-19 tests used on crewmembers of Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty. Georgia Heffe, a health adviser on set, claimed in her suit that she’d discovered the testing vendor, CineMedic, was billing HBO for lab-based PCR tests, while in actual fact using rapid tests in direct violation of industry protocols. Her complaint, filed Tuesday, states HBO was aware of the deception and did not act. “It’s unknown to Plaintiff, at this point, why producers and HBO favored a vendor who lied to them, ripped them off, fabricated medical records, and put the lives and safety of cast and crew at risk by peddling overpriced, inferior tests,” Heffe’s suit explains. After “repeatedly [blowing] the whistle on CineMedics’ fraud,” Hesse was fired in May 2022, for what she characterized as “patently absurd and pretextual reasons.” CineMedics told The Hollywood Reporter on Thursday that Hesse’s claims “are false and defamatory.”