FORMER America’s Got Talent judge Gabrielle Union claimed she was “poisoned” by Simon Cowell’s on-set smoking, as she spoke out about the “toxic” work environment during her time on the show.
Gabrielle, 47, left the NBC competition show in November after one season, as Variety cited the “toxic culture” as the reason for her departure.
In an interview with Variety, Gabrielle claimed she was surrounded by Simon‘s cigarette smoke while on a closed soundstage, despite being severely allergic.
Gabrielle said she hesitantly addressed the situation with producers, who acknowledge the complaints, to no avail.
She claimed: “You are literally met with the very definition of a toxic work environment, and it’s being carried out by the most powerful person on the production.”
The actress continued that she “couldn’t escape it,” and was “sick for two months straight.”
She continued: “It was a cold that lingered, and turned into bronchitis, because I couldn’t shake it. It impacted my voice, which affects my ability to do my job.”
She claimed her “constant running nose” bothered co-judge Howie Mandel, who struggled with obsessive compulsive disorder and germophobia.
Gabrielle added: “It was challenging to tend to my illness without being made to feel like I’m responsible for my own sickness. 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. I want to come to work and be healthy and safe and listened to.”
She asked herself: “Do I cave? I didn’t feel like myself; 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.”
A spokesperson for Simon told the outlet: “When he was directly informed of the smoking complaint during the first couple of days of the season, he immediately changed his behavior and the issue was never raised again.”
But a source familiar with the internal investigation of America’s Got Talent claimed to the outlet that while the matter was addressed, the investigation hasn’t concluded that Cowell’s indoor smoking has stopped entirely.
Gabrielle also made claims against guest judge Jay Leno.
During filming of a commercial interstitial at the offices, she alleged he made a joke about a painting of Simon, 60, and his dogs, saying the animals looked like food items at a Korean restaurant.
The joke was perceived as the stereotype about Asian people eating dog meat.
Gabrielle said of the quip: “My first big interview in this industry, the first person who allowed me to come on their talk show, was Jay Leno. I’ve always held him in high regard, 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.”
Though Gabrielle wanted to confront the talk show host, she hesitated because she guessed “there’s a corporate protocol.”
As for production, they allegedly said: “We’ll delete it. We’ll edit it out”
She told the outlet of the incident: “You cannot edit out what we just experienced. There is not an edit button in my brain or in my soul.
“To experience this kind of racism at my job and there be nothing done about it, no discipline, no companywide email, no reminder of what is appropriate in the workplace?”
Leno declined to comment to Variety.
Gabrielle claimed the show also did not have a standing policy of using contestants’ preferred pronouns.
She said: “We’re doing a show that is talking about a global audience, and we’re not even asking for preferred pronouns? We should never be put in a position where we are guessing, not when we know better.
“And again, no checks and balances. Everyone is allowed to operate without consequence or accountability, and it sends a message that this kind of thing is not only tolerated but encouraged.”
Variety reported that Gabrielle’s rotating hairstyles were considered “too black” by production, which she was unable to address because of the ongoing investigation.
In a joint statement, the AGT producers claimed their ongoing investigation concluded “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.”
But she did claim the show was not equipped to give all contestants equal hair and makeup time.
She said: “Some contestants get the full Hollywood treatment, and then some are left to dangle. When they hit that stage for the opportunity of a lifetime, they want to put their best foot forward and have all of the confidence that everyone else has.
“When you are making the conscious decisions in hiring, and failing to recognize that you have whole departments that lack the necessary skill set to provide adequate services to all of that diversity that you are touting, you are creating an unequal and discriminatory experience.”
Former judge Julianne Hough, judge Heidi Klum and show host Terry Crews said their experiences were different from Union’s.
Former judge Howard Stern claimed women were disposable in the environment, while Sharon Osbourne called it a “boys club.”
Gabrielle, who is married to Dwyane Wade, had said she was excited to join AGT and discover talent.
She said: “I signed up for the experience of being a part of a show that hails itself as the biggest stage in the world. Super diverse, and one about giving people an opportunity to shine where they otherwise probably wouldn’t,” Union says, adding wryly: “What could go wrong?”
An internal investigation remains ongoing.
Gabrielle said: “At the end of all this, my goal is real change — and not just on this show but for the larger parent company. It starts from the top down,” she says. “My goal is to create the happiest, most high-functioning, inclusive, protected and healthy example of a workplace.”
