Patterico's Pontifications

5/24/2014

CNN Fires A ‘Mariachi Gringo’

Filed under: General — Dana @ 5:32 pm



[guest post by Dana]

CNN faces a $60 million dollar discrimination lawsuit filed against them for allegedly firing a technical operator because he’s gay and because he wore bright colors and mariachi outfits to work which were judged to be “too flamboyant”.

Kane, who started working at CNN in 2002, claims nobody at the news network ever informed him of a dress code or complained about the hot pink designer shirt he wore in his employee ID photo. Nor did he get any guff for the bright red track jacket, neon green soccer jersey or yellow track suit, with matching shoes and hat, that he wore at other times.

“It really saddens me,” the 33-year-old Kane said of losing his job as a microphone tech.

“I feel like the Rosa Parks of CNN. Maybe someone else won’t have to suffer the way I have,” he told the Daily News.

Kane’s unique attire was popular with with journalists Christiane Amanpour and Fareed Zakaria, the suit claims. It also claims that CNN anchor Erin Burnett cited him as the “best-dressed man” on her show. Kane, who is married to a Mexican man, would wear mariachi suits to work when they corresponded with current news cycle themes.

The suit alleges that when Kane’s supervisor, John Silva, learned he was gay, a hostile work environment ensued. Also, while at a well known club, the suit further alleges Silva approached Kane and told him not to wear a yellow or black mariachi suit to work “because it was too flamboyant for a male in our department.”

Silva also suggested to Kane that he might be a better fit in an “entertainment or makeup department.”

The “flamboyant” comment smacked of stereotyping to Kane, who thought it was related to disclosing his same-sex engagement.

The suit points out that from 2002 to 2008, the technical operations department where he worked had a tradition of wearing colorful shirts on Thursdays.

At one point, Kane said, a supervisor had offered him a $100 “bribe” to go to a TJ Maxx store if he would change out of his blue track suit — because Piers Morgan complained it was distracting him. Kane said he refused the money but threw a black CNN sweatshirt over the track suit.

The Daily News also notes,

CNN star Anderson Cooper, who is openly gay, witnessed Silva admonishing Kane about wearing a red track suit, according to the complaint.

“Mr. Cooper gave (Kane) his personal company email address and asked plaintiff to email him details of the nature of being bullied by his supervisor,” the suit said.

Kane was fired in 2013. CNN claims they have not yet seen the lawsuit.

–Dana

42 Responses to “CNN Fires A ‘Mariachi Gringo’”

  1. Fascist h8rs, allegedly.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  2. Suddenly-poof-his livelihood was gone.

    Gazzer (554004)

  3. This was CNN… and in Teh Obamanation…

    with Prez Obama
    the beginning was the end
    there is no “there” there

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  4. Mariachi Maricon???

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  5. Bigotry for me but not for you conservatives.

    Glenn (647d76)

  6. It’s freaking show business, the All Racism All of the Time channel. Who cares what some limey butthole thinks.

    gary gulrud (46ca75)

  7. @ glenn,

    Bigotry for me but not for you conservatives.

    What are you implying?

    Dana (9a8f57)

  8. John Silva should get fired for his horrible bigotry and the mariachi should get his job back. Also the crappy HR whores at CNN should be fired too.

    Also Anderson Cooper should be fired too.

    Hate him.

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  9. Which is why employers should have an employees’ handbook and a dress code. CNN probably does which is why the EEOC dismissed his complaint.

    nk (dbc370)

  10. Does anybody remember the case of the black Hispanic community organizer who got into trouble for telling a black Anglo-Saxon-Scandinavian not to come to work dressed like a n-word? She got a few dollars from a jury for it.

    nk (dbc370)

  11. Hilarious. These people are clueless, which is why their ratings are in the toilet.

    Mike K (cd7278)

  12. Anyone bother to watch the video the UCSB killer made? Jaysus… calling it disturbing doesn’t quite capture it.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  13. I thought the UCSG video had been pulled. But I did see the full transcript, Col. Yes shocking. Even more shocking is that apparently his family tried to turn him in/get the police at least interested in him last week, but the police interview went no where. Big big problem for them if this is in fact true.

    elissa (fb6f94)

  14. He goes to a store and spends money on those clothes? Clownwear.

    PC14 (e1e427)

  15. Rosa Parks is rolling over in her grave. What a asshat Kane is to compare himself to her or compare his “suffering” to that of blacks in the Jim Crow South.

    elissa (fb6f94)

  16. Do animals do that too, elissa?

    nk (dbc370)

  17. Dark times in this society, from Sandy Hook to Santa Barbara. From the politics of a female managing editor of the New York Times being fired to the politics of a flamboyant gay employee at CNN being terminated.

    Stories of racism involving owners of sports teams to stories of an anti-Islam woman at Brandeis and others similar to a Paula Deen getting silenced or censored.

    Meanwhile, we have a peculiar economy both nationally and worldwide, and unhinged politics affecting all corners of the world. Fukushima on one hand, and a still-missing airliner on the other.

    It’s like living through a real-life episode of the Twilight Zone and then watching a huge car crash in slow motion.

    Mark (99b8fd)

  18. Anderson Cooper is fabulous.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  19. Well, nk I did see a Chihuahua wearing a tiny sombrero at a Cinco de Mayo party. (or “Cinco de Cuatro” if you prefer). But it seemed not too happy about it and the animal in question definitely was not humping any thing or any body that I noticed. I guess we will each have to draw our own conclusions as to the scientific value, if any, of my observation.

    elissa (fb6f94)

  20. elissa – Was the Chihuahua named Hercules?

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  21. Elissa, costumes like that are why they bite us.

    Gazzer (554004)

  22. My Uncle had a Chihuahua named Brutus. After Brutus lost his teeth all he could do was gum you.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  23. there’s a touch of absurdity, regarding CNN,

    narciso (3fec35)

  24. As if the poor chihuahua weren’t embarrassed enough…

    Dana (924684)

  25. I feel kinda sorry for chihuahuas. They did not win the dog lucky sperm lottery, IMO.

    elissa (fb6f94)

  26. They were bred to be what they are by the Southwestern Indian tribes. For waterskins.

    nk (dbc370)

  27. I think he’s got issued that can’t be hidden under that sombrero.

    Skeptical Voter (12e67d)

  28. I do think it’ll be very interesting to see how CNN handles it. The “flamboyant” side of that coin has been largely swept under the rug and kept from view by the marriage equality proponents to date.

    elissa (b7fb30)

  29. I find it hard to believe that gays don’t have a broadcasting system
    all to themselves.
    GBS

    mg (31009b)

  30. Okay. Exactly when did the “Gay people just want to be left alone to live their lives” meme go out the window?

    Mike Giles (760480)

  31. Re: #13… I linked to it off drudge right before I posted #12, but noticed this morning that it shows “restricted content”. Watching that murderer calmly looking into the camera while sitting at the wheel of his BMW and reciting his litany of complaints and plans to exact retribution made me sick to my stomach.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  32. and here it begins… “Richard Martinez, father of Christopher Martinez, said to reporters. “Chris died because of craven, irresponsible politicians and the NRA. They talk about gun rights, what about Chris’ right to live? When will this insanity stop?”

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  33. And now we know why the psycho was a mental defective. The apple does not fall far from the tree. Hopefully, the parents of the kids this c**ksucker’s mutant child killed will know whom to blame.

    nk (dbc370)

  34. Haiku–I give the victims’ families a little leeway because of the shock, and depth of their sadness and loss. It is quite understandable that they desperately seek to try to find something they can wrap their heads around–a reason for what is unfathomable.

    But no, Mr. Martinez. It was Elliot Rodger, a monster and a crazy man who killed your son and the others, not the NRA.

    elissa (b7fb30)

  35. Ohmigosh! I’m an idiot. I made it a deliberate point not to learn the killer’s name and then opened my stupid mouth confusing the victim for the killer.

    nk (dbc370)

  36. THis is the Rodger family statement”

    “The Rodger family offers our deepest compassion and sympathies to the families involved in this terrible tragedy. We are experiencing the most inconceivable pain and our hearts go out to everyone involved,” the family said in a statement. (LA Times)

    This is the true scandal as far as I am concerned.:

    Rodger’s family worried about him enough to call police about his videos on YouTube, saying they were alarmed by seeing him talk of suicide and killing people, family attorney Alan Shifman said Saturday. Three weeks later, Rodger stabbed three people at his apartment to death, gunned down two women outside a sorority and killed one more person outside a deli. Police believe he killed himself after a roving gunbattle with police. (HuffPO)

    elissa (b7fb30)

  37. of craven, irresponsible politicians and the NRA

    I wonder if Martinez sees the irony of Elliot Rodger being pretty much a by-product of a place and people who embrace his way of thinking?

    Rodger was a privileged child of the entertainment industry, his father was more recently involved in a movie about teens killing other teens (“Hunger Games”), his mother personally socialized with celebs like film producer George Lucas, he walked the red carpet at movie premieres (he can be seen in a snippet of a Youtube video attending such an event with his father and his wife, who’s speaking with Sylvester Stallone).

    To complete the circle — and based on his diary — he had a strong ego, was full of narcissism, was furious at others for getting things he believed he had a right to (ie, a firm feeling of self-entitlement) and believed in an ideology where “fairness” would be enforced.

    I can think of how that may strike a chord in “craven, irresponsible politicians,” but probably not the ones that people like Richard Martinez are thinking of.

    Mark (99b8fd)

  38. Thanks, Mark. Now I feel better.

    nk (dbc370)

  39. People who rave and rant about (and against) guns and the NRA are concerned about the “hardware” of society. I’m far more worried about this nation’s “software.”

    infowars.com via drudgereport.com: Like many before him, the mass murderer who killed 6 people in the coastal California community of Isla Vista Friday has garnered a following in death he could never amass in life….

    [F]ollowing his death, and the subsequent plastering of his photos across the web, it seems the girl-hating 22-year-old virgin now has what he always wanted in life: adoration, and some of it is coming from dudes as well.

    Rodger’s overnight popularization is similar to the cult following accused Batman shooter James Holmes generated, wherein several women professed their adulation of him after the supposed slaying of 12 victims in a movie theater in Aurora, Colo.

    Mark (99b8fd)

  40. Elissa… CBS News ran the statement made by the bereaved father of Chris Martinez, and he was obviously in great pain, but, you’re right… it wasn’t the NRA, it was this preening, twisted son of liberal privilege who killed his son. And it wasn’t the Oneida knives that killed Rodger’s three male roommates, it was Rodger.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  41. it’s nearly as absurd as the time it’s taken for them to realize this:

    http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/democrats-privately-calling-obama-detached-flat-footed-incompetent_793544.html

    narciso (3fec35)

  42. The suit alleges that when Kane’s supervisor, John Silva, learned he was gay, a hostile work environment ensued.

    I’m sorry, but all was well until a producer found out he was homosexual? As in he somehow couldn’t tell before?

    He was almost certainly discharged for some cause, but because he is homosexual, he believes he can use it to his advantage to get his job back score a big settlement.

    The realistic Dana (af9ec3)


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