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1 BROWNE GEORGE ROSS O’BRIEN ANNAGUEY & ELLIS LLP Eric M. George (State Bar No. 166403) 2 [email protected] Dennis S. Ellis (State Bar No. 178196) 3 [email protected] Katherine F. Murray (State Bar No. 211987) 4 [email protected] Serli Polatoglu (State Bar No. 311023) 5 [email protected] 2121 Avenue of the Stars, Suite 2800 6 Los Angeles, California 90067 Telephone: (310) 274-7100 7 Facsimile: (310) 275-5697 8 Attorneys for Plaintiffs Faizon Love and The Burning House, Inc. 9 10 SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA 11 DeadlineCOUNTY OF LOS ANGELES, CENTRAL DISTRICT 12 13 Faizon Love and The Burning House, Inc., Case No. 14 Plaintiffs, COMPLAINT FOR: (1) VIOLATION OF THE FAIR 15 vs. EMPLOYMENT AND HOUSING ACT (CAL. GOV’T CODE § 12900 ET SEQ.); 16 Universal City Studios, LLC, Eden Resort, (2) BREACH OF WRITTEN CONTRACT; Inc., Relativity Media LLC, and DOES 1-50, (3) FRAUD—FRAUDULENT 17 inclusive, INDUCMENT; (4) FRAUD—MISREPRESENTATION; 18 Defendants. (5) FRAUD—FALSE PROMISE; (6) VIOLATION OF THE UNRUH CIVIL 19 RIGHTS ACT (CAL. CIV. CODE § 51 ET SEQ.); AND 20 (7) VIOLATION OF THE UNFAIR COMPETITION LAW (CAL. BUS. & 21 PROF. CODE § 17200 ET SEQ.); 22 23 (REDACTED) 24 25 26 27 28 1621890.23 COMPLAINT 1 INTRODUCTION 2 1. Plaintiffs Faizon Love and his loan-out company, The Burning House, Inc. 3 (“Burning House”) (collectively “Plaintiffs”), bring this lawsuit against Defendants Universal City 4 Studios, LLC (f/k/a Universal City Studios, LLLP) (“Universal Studios”), Eden Resort, Inc., 5 Relativity Media LLC, and DOES 1-50 (collectively “Defendants”) to end definitively 6 Defendants’ persistent racist employment and advertising practices, as exhibited in the promotion 7 of the motion picture Couples Retreat. 8 2. Mr. Love, an experienced Black actor featured in the film, was aghast to discover at 9 the time of its opening that Universal Studios and the remaining Defendants had excised him and 10 the motion picture’s only other Black actor—together comprising the only minority “couple” in 11 Couples Retreat—fromDeadline its international promotional poster (below at left, with the domestic 12 poster at right). 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 3. Universal Studios had no problem featuring Black actors in the comedic film. But 27 when it came to publicizing the film to international audiences, Universal Studios chose to 28 segregate the motion picture’s White and Black actors. 1621890.23 -2- COMPLAINT 1 2 3 4. This act of racism deeply aggrieved Mr. Love. After decades spent honing his craft 4 and compiling more than 50 acting credits, Mr. Love reasonably believed Couples Retreat was his 5 opportunity to present to national and international audiences his talents as a prominent Black 6 comedic actor. 7 8 9 5. It was for naught. Rather than enjoy maximum visibility with the film’s release, 10 Mr. Love was demoted to the proverbial “Invisible Man,” as penned by Ralph Ellison. Although 11 Couples Retreat achievedDeadline a first-place box office opening weekend ranking, and went on a 12 spectacular run that grossed more than $171 million worldwide, Universal Studios placed 13 Mr. Love in the back seat of the ride enjoyed by his six White costars. Mr. Love and his Black 14 costar, Kali Hawk, were expunged completely from the film’s principal international 15 advertisement, while the other “couples” basked in the publicity and acclaim of an international 16 box office hit. 17 6. Rather than react with adversity, Mr. Love opted for engagement and equanimity. 18 He reached out to Universal Studios and endeavored to engage constructively. Universal Studios 19 (on behalf of Defendants), in turn, attempting to assuage Mr. Love and prevent his filing suit, 20 promised both (i) the immediate cessation of the racist international poster, and (ii) prompt 21 recompense to Mr. Love in the form of lucrative, career-making film roles. 22 7. Universal Studios lied. Not only did it flout its promise of career assistance to 23 Mr. Love, Universal Studios continues to this day to use the offending poster—not merely 24 internationally but now also domestically. What Universal Studios had initially portrayed to 25 Mr. Love as an unintentional act of oversight and carelessness was, we now know, an intentional 26 act of disparate and discriminatory treatment by Universal Studios and the remaining Defendants. 27 The continued use of the one sheet as advertisement for the motion picture Couples Retreat by 28 , and the fact 1621890.23 -3- COMPLAINT 1 that Defendants never intended to nor did honor their promise to discontinue use of the one sheet, 2 or offer Mr. Love new opportunities, gives rise to the employment, fraud, civil rights and unfair 3 competition claims alleged herein. 4 8. Indeed, Mr. Love has come to learn that Universal Studios’ willful discrimination 5 against him is emblematic of Universal Studios’ (and its affiliated companies’) systemic bigotry 6 against its employees, Black actors, on-screen talent and athletes. 7 9. Universal Studios has not merely been a player in Hollywood’s notorious White 8 man’s game, but an active, reactionary participant in restraining what one trade publication coined 9 as Black actors’ “century-old quest for diversity in entertainment.” (Steven Gaydos & Tim Gray, 10 A Telling Look Back at the Century-Old Quest for Diversity in Entertainment, VARIETY.COM 11 (Feb. 23, 2016), https://variety.com/2016/film/news/diversity-history-movies-tv-1201712294/Deadline .) 12 There is a reason the entertainment industry’s longstanding and well-documented lack of diversity 13 shows no signs of changing; as a 2016 study from the USC Annenberg School for Communication 14 and Journalism’s Institute for Diversity and Empowerment (“IDEA”) put it after surveying 15 hundreds of movies, TV shows, and other programming, “overall, the landscape of media content 16 is still largely whitewashed . [A]n epidemic of invisibility runs through popular storytelling.” 17 10. Setting aside Universal Studios’ self-professed solidarity with progressive racial 18 goals, the facts underpinning this case demonstrate that Universal Studios is a fully participating 19 collaborator in maintaining a bigoted status quo. One look at the lack of diversity in its leadership 20 team illustrates this: 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 1621890.23 -4- COMPLAINT 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Deadline 12 13 14 15 (See Senior Executives, UNIVERSALPICTURES.COM, https://www.universalpictures.com/leadership- 16 team (last visited November 14, 2020).) Of a team of sixteen individuals, only one of these 17 leaders is Black, resulting in just over a 6% representation, against the national average of 13.4% 18 for the Black population in the United States. The utter lack of Black representation on this team 19 shows exactly why “decisions” like removing the lone Black couple from the advertising of 20 Couples Retreat, , was made in 2009 when no one on 21 this leadership team was Black, and continues until this day when only one person on the team is 22 Black. There was no one in the room to say this was a bad idea back then, and not enough people 23 in the room to empower a voice of reason to say the continued use of the racist poster is wrong 24 now. 25 11. As to Mr. Love, while he remains a victim of Defendants’ bigotry, he is most 26 certainly a wiser one, and no longer a silent one. Having endured humiliation from the racist 27 poster, having borne witness to Universal Studios’ false excuses and promises, having come to 28 learn the racist poster remains in use today, and having realized the promised recompense to him 1621890.23 -5- COMPLAINT 1 was as illusory as Universal Studios’ initial promise to provide him advertising credit equal to his 2 costars, Mr. Love and his loan-out company, Burning House, now seek redress through the present 3 action for violations of the Fair Employment and Housing Act (Cal. Gov’t Code § 12900 et seq.), 4 Unruh Civil Rights Act (Cal. Civ. Code § 51 et seq.) and Unfair Competition Law (Cal. Bus. & 5 Prof. Code § 17200 et seq.), as well as for breach of contract and fraud. 6 THE PARTIES 7 12. Plaintiff Faizon Love is a Black actor and comedian. He is a California citizen who 8 resides in Los Angeles, California. 9 13. Plaintiff The Burning House, Inc. (“Burning House”) is and/or was at all relevant 10 times a California corporation wholly owned by Plaintiff Faizon Love, with its principal place of 11 business in California.Deadline 12 14. Defendant Eden Resort, Inc. (“Eden Resort”) is a California company with its 13 principal place of business in Universal City, California. 14 Eden Resort was the wholly 15 owned subsidiary of Defendant Universal City Studios LLLP, which is now known as Universal 16 City Studios, LLC. 17 15. Defendant Universal City Studios, LLC (f/k/a Universal City Studios, LLLP) (a/k/a 18 Universal Pictures) (“Universal Studios”) is a Delaware company with its principal place of 19 business in Universal City, California. Universal Studios produced and distributed Couples 20 Retreat. 21 16. Relativity Media LLC (“Relativity Media”) is a California company with its 22 principal place of business in Beverly Hills, California. Relativity Media produced Couples 23 Retreat alongside Universal Studios. 24 17. The true names, identities, or capacities, whether individual, corporate, associate, or 25 otherwise, of Defendants DOES 1 through 50, inclusive, are unknown to Plaintiffs, who therefore 26 sue said Defendants by such fictitious names. When the true names, identities, or capacities of 27 such fictitiously designated defendants are ascertained, Plaintiffs will ask leave of this Court to 28 amend this Complaint to insert the said true names, identities, and capacities, together with the 1621890.23 -6- COMPLAINT 1 proper charging allegations.