The “visionary” music executive who hired Lorde, The Weeknd and other hit artists has been sued by his former assistant, who says he had to conduct “fake interviews” with white job applicants in an attempt to “diversify” his office .
Ron Perry, CEO of Columbia Records, is praised for his pioneering work and close ties to his label’s icons, including Adele, Beyoncé, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen.
Now he’s being sued: His former assistant, Patria Paulino, paints an ugly portrait of his office in New York City’s Flatiron district, saying staff are berated in a toxic racist atmosphere.
Perry has little respect for non-white employees like Paulino, a Latina, but seeks to recruit more ‘color into her office’ in an effort to keep up appearances in the post-George Floyd era, it is alleged.
Columbia Records Chairman and CEO Ron Perry has won many awards for his work bringing artists like Lorde, The Weeknd, and Lil Nas X to the spotlight.
Perry (pictured with Lil Nas X) is accused of reverse racism, which may affect his work with big-name artists.
He belittled and humiliated her, says Paulino. It is alleged that she was forced to conduct fake interviews with white job applicants, even when she was told that only an African American could get the job.
Attorney Erica Shnayder says Columbia hired based on race
She sued the label, its parent company Sony Music Entertainment, Perry and three others under city and state human rights laws in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. end of last month.
“The company knew they were violating the law,” Paulino’s lawyer, Erica Shnayder, told DailyMail.com.
“That is precisely why they conducted phony interviews with employees who were no longer considered eligible to be hired due to their race.”
DailyMail.com contacted the label, which declined to comment.
The lawsuit is especially damaging for Perry: He was one of the first industry leaders to support the Black Lives Matter movement after Floyd’s murder, and often works with Black artists, such as Pharrell Williams and Lil Nas X.
According to the 15-page lawsuit, Paulino, a New Jersey resident of Dominican, Spanish and Italian origin, began working for Perry in November 2022.
Perry’s former assistant Patria Paulino says the top executive humiliated her because she was his token Latina hire.
Paulino kept text messages in which his colleagues blatantly discussed their racial preference for recruits, including that they were a “diversity candidate” or “POC,” meaning a person of color.
She was soon told she was a “diversity hire” despite her impressive CV, it is claimed.
Perry treated her as “less qualified” because she was Hispanic and “frequently demeaned, humiliated and criticized her” for no reason, it is alleged.
He had a “preference for Caucasian employees,” she was told.
But Perry had a problem, the case alleges.
Former employees had filed “multiple complaints of racial discrimination” against him, and he was under pressure to diversify his mostly white office to keep up with his peers, as Sony CEO Rob Stringer said in the lawsuit.
Paulino was assigned the task of vetting administrative assistant candidates.
He was ordered to break discrimination laws by interviewing applicants from all backgrounds but only let one “Person of Colour” make it to the final round, it is claimed.
Paulino refused to play along. He presented candidates he considered qualified, regardless of their skin color.
Chief of Staff Jenny Schecter was warned about the race-based recruiting target, but responded, “My HR ears can’t hear this,” allegedly.
Chief of Staff Kimberly Greenman is alleged to have told Paulino that she “wasn’t really working out” and urged her to resign.
This put her at odds with Perry and her human resources bosses Kimberly Greenman, Jenny Schecter and Alexa Abrams.
When Paulino proposed non-black candidates, human resources managers reminded him of “the diversity situation” or indicated that the applicant “does not fit the box” they had to check, it is alleged.
In one case, Paulino was allegedly told, “Unfortunately, we can’t hire another white Jewish girl.”
In reference to another candidate, he was allegedly told, “You can’t be hired because you’re not black.”
When Paulino complained about racial discrimination, Schecter allegedly said, “My HR ears can’t hear this.”
Some of these comments were conveyed in text messages.
Paulino says he worked 80 hours a week holding fake meetings with qualified white candidates who never stood a chance.
In total, more than a dozen were rejected because of their race.
In the end, the relationship broke down. In March 2023, Greenman told Paulino that Perry felt she “wasn’t really working out” and pressured her to resign, she claims.
Ron Perry (right) reportedly wanted to have an office as diverse as Sony CEO Rob Stringer’s.
Columbia is one of Sony Music’s flagship labels, featuring artists such as Adele, Beyoncé, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen.
Ron Perry (right) pictured here with artists Tyga and Lil Nas
She resigned and was quickly replaced, and a black applicant was assigned the administrative position, the lawsuit says.
“Defendants created intolerable working conditions by requiring Plaintiff to participate in the company’s discriminatory hiring practices and by forcing her to resign,” the lawsuit says.
Paulino is seeking a jury trial, costs and punitive damages.
The case paints a complicated picture of racial discrimination in today’s New York entertainment industry, where executives reject qualified white candidates in an attempt to appear more diverse.
In a similar case, a freelance writer for the hit show SEAL Team sued CBS Studios last month for repeatedly denying him a staff job and instead hiring less qualified black LGBTQ women and other “diversity” recruits.
Proponents say so-called diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) schemes attract more black, brown, female and queer talent to workplaces and universities and boost morale across the board.
But critics say they are an exercise in “woke” virtue signaling that encourages discrimination against straight white men.
Perry will receive the 2024 UJA Federation Music Visionary of the Year Award at a ceremony in New York this spring.
The group called him a “true pioneer” and “one of the new leaders in our industry.”