A former Nexstar Media Group sales manager has filed a federal wrongful termination lawsuit against the company, claiming he was fired because his race did not make him promotable under the broadcaster’s former diversity, equity and inclusiveness (DEI) policies.
In a 13-page complaint filed in federal court on Tuesday, Mark Cifarelli of New Jersey says he worked as a sales manager for WPHL (Channel 17) and was one of the station’s highest earners, but was ultimately let go when the broadcaster decided to downsize his department.
Cifarelli claims he was singled out because he was the only white male in his department of three sales managers.
Cifarelli was hired by Nexstar in 2019, two years before the company appointed Courtney Williams as its Chief Diversity Officer. Willliams was hired to “expand diversity in hiring, promotion, and retention,” Nexstar said in a statement; in addition to her duties as Chief Diversity Officer, Williams also worked as the Vice President of Human Resources.
During his time at Nexstar, WPHL hired or promoted two other employees — Wes Franks and Emma Alkire — who worked with Cifarelli on various sales-related initiatives. Cifarelli says he was the highest earner for WPHL, accounting for nearly 80 percent of the station’s sales-related revenue.
At the same time, Nexstar aggressively pursued various DEI policies that ultimately saw the number of female and minority sales managers increase, while “the number of white male sales workers decreased,” Cifarelli said.
That affected Cifarelli when Williams told him last December that one of the three sales manager positions at WPHL would be eliminated due to a restructuring of the station’s business. Ultimately, Williams decided to fire Cifarelli because his race did not contribute to Nexstar’s DEI policy goals, he alleged.
It wasn’t clear if Nexstar had been served a copy of the complaint. The Desk has reached out to Nexstar spokesperson Gary Weitman for comment on the allegations.
Nexstar is one of several broadcasters that promoted DEI policies until the political temperature in Washington changed with the election of President Donald Trump.
In January, Trump signed an Executive Order that abolished DEI policies and positions within the federal government, claiming the programs were discriminatory and saying the government should return to the practice of hiring and promoting based on merit alone.
The order has influenced other policies at some federal agencies, including the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), where Chairman Brendan Carr has threatened to block media-related deals and other transactions if one or more companies involved have DEI programs.
The threat has persuaded some companies like Disney and Verizon to pull back on their DEI policies, or reframe them in a way that lessens the priority of race or gender in hiring and workplace advancement decisions.
Over the past few months, Nexstar has taken the same approach. The company recently removed all references to its DEI programs from its corporate website, and deleted Williams’ biography from her webpage. (Williams remains employed as Nexstar’s Vice President of Human Resources, but a source at the company said she is no longer referenced as its Chief Diversity Officer in internal or external communications.)
Nexstar also pulled references to DEI from its corporate LinkedIn page, and softened the tone of its “Workforce Management” webpage by removing a chart that included a breakdown of employment hiring and retention based on gender and race, according to archived copies reviewed by The Desk.
