Celebrity blogger B. Scott’s lawsuit against BET and parent company Viacom for discrimination may have just got a big boost, because emails from executives admitting they didn’t want the transgender personality “looking like a woman” while hosting last summer’s BET Awards have leaked.
“I don’t want ‘looking like a woman B Scott,’” TMZ reports BET Music Programming president Stephen Hill wrote in an email right before the show. “I want tempered B Scott.”
Also read: B. Scott Suing BET, Viacom for $2.5 Million Over Transgender Discrimination, Wrongful Termination
Scott filed the $2.5 million lawsuit in August for wrongful termination and emotional distress on top of discrimination because the network allegedly made him change from woman’s clothing into menswear while serving as the style correspondent during the event’s red carpet pre-show. After changing into menswear, B. Scott said he was replaced by another correspondent, Adrienne Bailon, anyway.
“I can speak to him about being less ‘womanly,’” BET vice president Rhonda Cowan responded in the alleged emails between executives discussing the matter.
Also read: 11 Transgender Stars Weigh In on Trans Images in Entertainment (Exclusive)
After the broadcast, producer Stephanie Hodges reportedly wrote an email noting Scott “got upset and said he was going to blow this s**t up and call GLAAD.”
An email from BET executive Monique Ware reveals a potential strategy for the network to avoid a possible public relations disaster.
“The spin should be he was late for a live show and subsequently replaced and it would have been awkward in a live show to have the person assuming his role removed and him inserted,” Ware reportedly wrote. “Unless we can make public the reason we didn’t want him dressed the way he normally does, I would stay away from suits, suit selections, etc.”
BET has yet to respond to TheWrap‘s request for comment.