Al Jazeera America, the cable and satellite news channel owned by the royal family of Qatar, was sued Tuesday by a former employee who says he was fired after complaining about an executive’s anti-Semitic, anti-American and misogynistic behavior.
Matthew Luke, former supervisor of media and archive management, seeks $15 million in punitive and compensatory damages.
Luke’s lawyers said in the Manhattan Supreme Court suit he was told in February he didn’t “fit in” after he told human resources that his new boss, Osman Mahmud, was excluding, demoting, disrespecting and removing women from positions of responsibility.
Court papers say Mahmud also was biased against supporters of Israel, telling co-workers that “whoever supports Israel should die a fiery death in hell.”
For months last year, court papers say, Mahmud was on a mission to remove an Israeli cameraman from the Middle East and replace him with a Palestinian whose qualifications were “questionable.”
When a female senior vice president for news resisted, court papers say, Mahmud “dismissed and patronized her.” When she complained, they said, she was demoted to a “significantly less prestigious position that did not require her to use her impressive and substantive experience and skill set.”
The American-born Luke, who started at AJAM in 2013, said Mahmud was promoted to senior vice president in February “despite his lack of experience” because he had the right “religion, nationality and ties” to the financiers and senior executives of AJAM’s parent company, specifically Dr. Mostefa Souag.
On his first day in the new post, Mahmud ordered Luke to remove two women from an email chain related to a project they were working on for Luke, according to court papers. The suit also says Mahmud insisted that a male engineer do their work and then ordered Luke to bypass the lead female editor and come directly to Mahmud with any editing questions.
“This was the first time Luke was being directed to participate in Mahmud’s discriminatory conduct and he requested a meeting with Human Resources” to discuss his boss’s “pattern of inappropriate discriminatory conduct,” the lawsuit says.
Ten days after that meeting, the papers say, Luke was fired when Mahmud formally complained about a professional disagreement that they’d had last year.
Luke’s lawyer, Jeffrey Kimmel, said Luke was “an exemplary and loyal employee at Al Jazeera, but when he “reported the biased and discriminatory conduct of a high-level newsroom executive, the response was to circle the wagons and fire the messenger.”
“This is a clear violation of the law. One would expect more from an organization whose mission statement is “to be recognized as the world’s leading and most trusted media network,” Kimmel said.
“Al Jazeera America does not comment on pending litigation,” spokesman Michael Petruzzello said Tuesday night in a statement.
“The company takes these matters seriously and will respond in the appropriate forum. Al Jazeera America’s commitment to diversity and inclusion is fundamental to its mission, and is boldly reflected throughout the company: in its staff, its leadership and its programming.”
Mahmud, who also is named a defendant in the case, could not be reached for comment.
