NBC's "Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon" has been a major success since first aired. It resonated with many hip hop fans as well because of the fact that The Roots are the backing band on the show. While there's been a few controversies surrounding the show, the damage has never resulted in a lawsuit. However, two cameramen are claiming racial discrimination in a new suit against NBC and Questlove.
Questlove and NBC are being sued for firing two cameramen, who are white, after they received a racist text from a stagehand that they ended up being blamed for, TMZ reports. The two of them claim they were unfairly accused for a text message that was sent to them in a group chat even though they say they had already approached NBC executives to explain they had nothing to do with the message. Both men are claiming they received racial discrimination from Questlove after he found out about the text message they received which they say resulted in their termination.
According to the documents, a stagehand of the show sent an inappropriate message in a group text to Roots member, Mark Kelley, and cameramen, Michael Cimino and Kurt Decker, while taping an episode of the "Tonight Show" last year. In the documents, they say they never responded to the text and didn't want to receive it either. They say they tried to explain their side of the story to NBC executives to try to separate themselves from the text they received in fear they'd be associated with it.
After hearing about the racist text message, Questlove reportedly told NBC to fire both camera operators which the company did. Mark Kelley, who also received the text, did not receive any punishment.
