Months after NBC launched a formal investigation into the on-set environment of America’s Got Talent, the results are in. The network, along with producers Fremantle and Syco, released a statement Wednesday that mostly patted themselves on the back. “While the investigation has demonstrated an overall culture of diversity,” the companies said, “it has also highlighted some areas in which reporting processes could be improved.”
Gabrielle Union, meanwhile, spoke out regarding her experience on the show in a new interview with Variety. Union was abruptly dismissed from the show last year. Her exit reportedly resulted from her complaints about racist jokes made on set, as well as a generally toxic work environment that included co-host Simon Cowell smoking on set, despite California state laws and her allergy to cigarette smoke. The AGT producers’ statement claims the complaint and her dismissal were not related.
“When we heard Ms. Union had concerns about her time on the show, we took them extremely seriously,” the companies’ statement reads, per Deadline. “NBC, Fremantle and Syco immediately engaged an outside investigator who conducted more than 30 interviews to review the issues raised by Ms. Union.”
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“Through the investigation process, it has been revealed that no one associated with the show made any insensitive or derogatory remarks about Ms. Union’s appearance, and that neither race nor gender was a contributing factor in the advancement or elimination of contestants at any time,” the statement adds. “The investigation has shown that the concerns raised by Ms. Union had no bearing on the decision not to exercise the option on her contract.”
The statement provides no detail regarding the shortcomings in the show and network’s “reporting processes,” or how they might be improved. Instead, it concludes, “NBC, Fremantle and Syco share Ms. Union’s dedication to diversity and inclusion in the industry. We continue to remain committed to having an inclusive environment for everyone associated with the show, and to upholding AGT as one of the most diverse programs on television.”
Among Union’s complaints on the AGT set was Cowell’s smoking, which she said made her physically ill for two months. “It was challenging to tend to my illness without being made to feel like I’m responsible for my own sickness,” Union told Variety. “It put me in a position from day one where I felt othered. I felt isolated. I felt singled out as being difficult, when I’m asking for basic laws to be followed.”
Eventually, Union had a decision to make: “Do I cave?”
“I didn’t feel like myself,” she told Variety. I’m shape-shifting to make myself more palatable. I’m contorting myself into something I don’t recognize. I had to look at myself and say, ‘Do you want to keep it easy? Or do you want to be you, and stand up?’ Because I’m not the only one being poisoned at work.”
Union also discussed a racist joke Leno allegedly told about Koreans eating dog meat. Leno was her first big interview in the industry, she said, and as a result, “I’ve always held him in high regard,” Union said. “But I was not prepared for his joke. I gasped. I froze. Other things had already happened, but at this point, it was so wildly racist.”
Production told Union they could edit the joke out, but that did not address the issue, she said. “There is not an edit button in my brain or in my soul,” she told Variety. “To experience this kind of racism at my job and there be nothing done about it, no discipline, no company-wide email, no reminder of what is appropriate in the workplace?”
“At the end of all this, my goal is real change—and not just on this show but for the larger parent company,” Union said. “It starts from the top down. My goal is to create the happiest, most high-functioning, inclusive, protected and healthy example of a workplace.”
