After weeks of silence, Amazon formally defended “Criminal” series creator Ed Brubaker following claims of sexual and racial harassment on set.
Ijaaz Noohu – a former PA on Brubaker’s series “Criminal” for Amazon – sued the showrunner and Amazon MGM on Sept. 2, claiming the prolific comic book writer sexually and racially harassed him. Amazon said in a court filing Friday that Noohu is “an opportunist, not a victim.”
“While Noohu’s allegations must be treated as true on demurrer, the evidence in this case will ultimately and overwhelmingly demonstrate that he is an opportunist, not a victim, and that his claims are meritless,” Amazon and Brubaker’s lawyers said.
They continued: “His most sensational allegation — that Brubaker pointed a functional firearm at his face and pulled the trigger — is pure invention. Had that happened, every person in the room, Noohu included, had a duty to report it and in a post-‘Rust’ industry on high alert to firearms, someone would have. No one did. Defendants first learned of the supposed incident when Noohu reemerged peddling the story and demanding a payday.”
Noohu accused Brubaker of “making comments about running his hands through Plaintiff’s hair, rubbing Plaintiff’s back without consent, prying into his private sex life, joking about rape, and, as a cruel prank, deliberately directing Plaintiff to a ‘bikini barista’ establishment where the women serving coffee wore only bathing suits.” Brubaker also allegedly subjected Noohu to “demeaning ethnic stereotypes about curry, ‘Tiger Mom,’ ‘Never Have I Ever,’ and presumed mathematical ability, and repeatedly labeled him ‘Indian’ though he is Sri Lankan American.”
The complaint additionally mentions religious harassment discrimination against Noohu, “one of the few Muslim persons on the ‘Criminal’ set,” including an incident that involved “questioning whether he supports Hamas.”
Prime Video ordered a series for “Criminal,” Brubaker’s comic book which won the Eisner Award in 2007 for Best New Series, back in January 2024. Brubaker originally wrote the series, with art by Sean Phillips, at Marvel Comics under the publisher’s Icon imprint before the creator-owned series moved to Image Comics. In 2012, “Criminal: The Last of the Innocent” won the Eisner for Best Limited Series.
The Amazon lawyers further point to Noohu’s opportunist nature when it came to the lawsuit by pointing out that it came right before more news about “Criminal” was about to land.
“Noohu sat on these supposed claims for 20 months and filed suit on the eve of the press circuit for ‘Criminal,’” the lawyers added. “That is the conduct of an opportunist timing his leverage, not a victim seeking redress.”
