Faizon Love filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against Universal Pictures for erasing him from the poster for the 2009 film, Couples Retreat.
Starring Vince Vaughn, Jason Bateman, and Jon Favreau, the film was about four couples who go to a resort to repair their relationships. Love and his co-star, Kali Hawk, were the only non-White couple and were removed from the overseas poster.
"This film was a big money-maker for Universal, but instead of honoring my work and my contract, the studio chose to render me invisible to billions of moviegoers around the world," the comedian said in a statement.
At the time of the film's release, the movie company was called out for the deletion and claimed it would discontinue the poster. However, Love recently discovered that the poster continues to be used.
In his lawsuit, Love accused Universal of failing to keep their promises of lucrative television and film roles. He believes that the promises were made to keep him quiet about the poster controversy. The lawsuit also accused Vince Vaughn of telling "Mr. Love that making a big deal about his removal from the poster would not be good for his career at that time."
"They have not only hurt me financially, they have hurt me in a deeper way by dismissing me because of my Blackness — and they have hurt all Black performers by continuing to perpetuate racism in the movie industry," Love said. "I want to ensure that future generations don’t have to endure the racism and whitewashing that I have experienced."
Faizon Love's lawsuit accuses Universal Pictures of fraud, breach of contract, and violation of California's fair employment act and civil rights law. For images of the poster, flip through the above slides.
Source: Variety
