Former PIX11 News Reporter Sues Station for Discrimination, Says Racist Bosses Treated Her Like Plantation Slave

An Emmy-winning black TV anchor was treated like a plantation slave by her racist bosses, a bombshell lawsuit alleges.

Ojinika Obiekwe got her start at the local New York station as an intern in 2001. The Nigerian-born journalist rose up the ranks — occupying jobs from assignment editor to producer/reporter over 16 years — according to her station bio.

Her lengthy bio remains on the station’s website, but ends with, “Ojinika separated from PIX11 in 2022.”

In 2017, she was promoted to a full-time on-air position as entertainment anchor.

“The best part of my job is the fact that I love what I do and I’m pretty good at it, but with this, I’ve also realized I can reach so many people and touch many lives, especially women… not just in Nigeria, but the entire continent of Africa and hopefully all over the world,” she says in the bio.

After the promotion, Obiekwe found herself, “having to do the work of two or even three employees, such as the work of a Segment Producer and even that of a Copy Editor” without adequate support, according to the lawsuit filed in the Southern District of New York last month.

The suit further alleges white male entertainment anchors at sister stations — and subsidiaries of parent company Nextar — KTLA in Los Angeles and WGN-TV in Chicago were paid more with less responsibilities and “more support and a more competent staff” than her.

The Emmy-winning journalist started complaining about her work environment and alleged discrimination she was experiencing, likening her work conditions “to those on a plantation.”

“All that’s left for me to do at this point is pick cotton,” she said, reacting to “the disproportionate amount of work she was expected to do,” according to the lawsuit.

Obiekwe also sounded off about alleged discrimination due to her race, telling the station: “Just call me Django [the fictional character popularized by Quentin Tarantino’s 2012 film] — but even Django was unchained,” the suit states.

Additionally, “My ancestors didn’t go through what they went through just for me to go through this,” and “I thought slavery was abolished,” the complaint says.

The filing claims Obiekwe’s news director told her “to desist because she was making people uncomfortable.”

In 2023, she was terminated due to alleged “insubordination,” and an alleged, “failure to perform job duties,” according to the suit.

Obiekwe and SAG-AFTRA union lawyers challenged the allegations against her, and found that, “PIX11’s charges could not be supported by any evidence,” according to the complaint.

The suit also says the news director, “took back the reasons PIX11 originally gave Ms. Obiekwe, and decided that PIX11 was simply not renewing her contract, for no reason,” according to the complaint.

Obiekwe later hired attorneys Andrew G. Celli and Eric Adams of ECBAWM law firm to take on her case.

“Ms. Obiekwe was terminated, and her contract was not renewed, because she spoke up about discrimination she was experiencing. Beyond being morally unjust, PIX11 and Nexstar must be held accountable for their violations of the law,” Abrams said in a statement.

A spokesperson for PIX11 did not respond to our request for comment.

via: Page Six

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