Reading a lawsuit against a television writers’ room, which is meant to be a place where creative people collaborate on ideas, frequently with a level of flexibility and informality that other professional settings don’t allow, is especially unsettling. According to John Lowe’s filing, that informality evolved into something quite different. Thirteen days after he brought up Juneteenth, he was verbally and abruptly fired, ending a nearly two-year relationship.
In October 2023, Lowe was brought on board as an executive story editor for the CBS revival of Matlock. The show, which starred Kathy Bates and was a legal drama centered on an astute senior lawyer employed by a large company, had been well received when it debuted. Lowe’s case, which was filed in California on June 17, claims that the writers’ room was operating on a completely separate register behind the scenes.
In addition to CBS Studios, the filing names Jennie Snyder Urman, the showrunner and creator of Matlock, writer Nicki Renna, and writer Jeffrey Lieber as defendants. It claims that these three individuals together created an atmosphere that was rife with sexually and racially offensive behavior specifically targeted at Lowe, who is Black.
The lawsuit contains specific charges that are, to be honest, hard to understand as isolated occurrences rather than a persistent pattern. According to Lowe, Snyder Urman and Lieber made comments about his shoe size early on in his job, referring to his anatomy. He claims that the same group made graphic comments about how he would handle a man’s genitalia and questioned his sexual orientation. These are described in the petition as persistent behavior that Lowe experienced during his work rather than as isolated instances of bad judgment.
The lawsuit highlights a specific occurrence from 2024. Lowe claims that Snyder Urman brought a puppy into the writers‘ room, put it on his lap, and said that her kids had rejected it because they didn’t like its “aesthetic”—a statement that Lowe took to mean the dog’s black coloring. He claims that she then coerced him into taking care of the dog for nearly a year, at one time promising him a spot on the show as long as he had the dog. Lowe’s legal team contends that this behavior was intended to humiliate him and was motivated by race.
The episode that prompted his termination is referred to as the Juneteenth incident. Lowe claims he inquired as to whether the production will observe the federal holiday in June 2025. In response, Snyder Urman allegedly used the racial term “coonteenth” to characterize it. Lowe claims he was verbally told his job was ending on July 2, thirteen days later. Ron Zambrano of West Coast Employment Lawyers, his lawyer, referred to it as “blatant racism” and said CBS ought to be embarrassed for letting the situation worsen.
In a statement, CBS Studios said that a comprehensive investigation had been carried out and that Lowe’s claims were unsupported. Despite Lowe’s internal protests after leaving the company, USA People reported that the production company was not informed of the case until the day it was filed. If the matter goes to trial, there will probably be a lengthy debate on whether that timeline enhances or complicates either side’s claim.
