CBS beats former news anchor's suit claiming he was replaced for being white

LOS ANGELES (CN) — CBS Broadcasting Inc. prevailed in a lawsuit brought by Jeff Vaughn, a former evening news anchor at its KCBS and KCAL local Los Angeles stations, who claimed he got replaced because he was an older, white, heterosexual, male.

U.S. District Judge Hernán Vera granted summary judgment to the network because, the judge said, “there was no ’there’ there” to Vaughn’s claims that he was replaced by a Black man just because he was white.

“The evidence does not generate a triable issue of fact as to whether race was a motivating factor,” the judge wrote. “Vaughn reads racial discrimination into facts that simply do not support that inference, even when viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to him.”

Vera, a Joe Biden appointee, said it was undisputed fact that the network simply hadn’t been happy with Vaughn’s performance for years.

In his suit, Vaughn had cited his replacement in 2023 by Chauncy Clover — who network executives described as the “real deal” — along with CBS’s purported diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, and the comments by an executive who compared Vaughn to Ron Burgundy, Will Ferrell’s character in the movie “Anchorman.”

The mere fact that Vaughn’s replacement was Black, Vera wrote in his Tuesday ruling, doesn’t support an inference that Vaughn’s race was a motivating factor in his termination, given that CBS made offers and overtures to other white men for the very same position before Vaughn’s firing.

As for the Ron Burgundy comparison, Vera noted that the CBS executive who made that comparison said it had been her perception of Vaughn’s lack of authenticity and his talking-head anchoring style, not his race. In that regard, the comparison doesn’t support a finding of racial animus.

John Howard, one of Vaughn’s attorneys, referred questions about the ruling to the America First Legal Foundation — a conservative public interest organization founded by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller— which is also representing Vaughn in the litigation. America First did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

CBS declined to comment on the ruling.

Vaughn sued the broadcaster for $5 million two years ago, claiming he was fired from CBS and replaced because of his age, race, gender and sexual orientation.

He had worked for CBS Broadcasting for 8 years, and he was the evening anchor for the KCBS 5 p.m., KCAL 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. newscasts.

In May 2022, Vaughn claimed, the general manager at CBS News Los Angeles told him he would not be working at CBS in six months and that he was going to be replaced.

According to Vaughn — who said in his complaint that he has over 30 years of experience in broadcast journalism — the network’s management didn’t give him a direct reason for his removal from his job but told him “it’s not about the ratings.”

The reason he lost his job, Vaughn claimed in his suit, was that CBS wanted to increase the diversity of its staff and had implemented a policy “that favored the hiring of individuals of certain groups and firing or refusing to hire older, white, heterosexual, males.”

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