A former executive is alleging Paramount fired him because of his race and age in a new lawsuit filed Friday.

According to the lawsuit, 58-year-old Joseph E. Jerome was one of three White men over the age of 50 fired from Paramount in 2024 and replaced by younger, more diverse workers. Jerome had worked for Paramount since 1994 and most recently worked as production counsel for “Entertainment Tonight,” before being replaced with a Black employee decades younger than him, the suit alleges.

Jerome’s attorneys cited Paramount’s company-wide diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives , pointing out that all attorneys fired in 2024 were White and over 50.

The lawsuit also described a 2023 meeting Jerome had with then-CBS News President Wendy McMahon, who “allegedly complained abou

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