Updated 6/28/16: The lawsuit is back on!
Updated 11/12/15: A judge has dismissed Victoria Rowell's retaliation suit against The Young & the Restless, CBS and Sony.
Here is what I wrote for Entertainment Weekly when she first filed....
Originally published 2/25/15
On February 11, 2015, actress Victoria Rowell announced that she was suing her former employer, The Young & the Restless, and its parent company, Sony. Rowell contends that the show won’t rehire her to play the role of Drucilla, a part that Rowell vacated in 2007, due to Rowell’s outspoken activism regarding Y&R’s dearth of African-American actors, writers and directors. The suit also alleges that Rowell faced racial discrimination during her 14 years of starring on the soap, and that she was never offered the opportunity to either write or direct the program. Rowell is seeking back pay, and a return to playing Dru.
Updated 11/12/15: A judge has dismissed Victoria Rowell's retaliation suit against The Young & the Restless, CBS and Sony.
Here is what I wrote for Entertainment Weekly when she first filed....
Originally published 2/25/15
On February 11, 2015, actress Victoria Rowell announced that she was suing her former employer, The Young & the Restless, and its parent company, Sony. Rowell contends that the show won’t rehire her to play the role of Drucilla, a part that Rowell vacated in 2007, due to Rowell’s outspoken activism regarding Y&R’s dearth of African-American actors, writers and directors. The suit also alleges that Rowell faced racial discrimination during her 14 years of starring on the soap, and that she was never offered the opportunity to either write or direct the program. Rowell is seeking back pay, and a return to playing Dru.
CBS and Sony have denied all charges, insisted that the
lawsuit has no merit, and that Rowell is attempting to “rewrite history.”
Does the actress have a case?
It would seem that the easiest charge to dispute would be
Rowell’s claim that racial discrimination kept her from getting the chance to
write or direct her show.
True, some actors, like Days of Our Lives Alison Sweeney
have directed. Pamela Long went from an actor on Texas to its Headwriter,
before assuming the same position at Guiding Light and One Life to Live, among
others. And Ellen Wheeler and Christopher Goutman were able to transition from
actors to directors to Executive Producers of GL and As the World Turns, respectively.
But that’s literally only a handful of people among the tens of thousands of
actors who’ve passed through the daytime drama world. It can hardly be
considered a common opportunity offered to all, save Rowell.
When I interviewed her for my book, “Soap Opera 451: A TimeCapsule of Daytime Drama’s Greatest Moments,” Rowell asserted, “You don’t stay
in a storyline if you’re not selling a story, and if you’re not selling the
story, you don’t stay employed. At the
end of the day, this is about keeping a show on the air, and a show that’s
selling soap. You’re selling
products. I understood the business
dynamics.”
This is presumably why Rowell’s lawsuit also charges that,
by refusing her entreaties to reprise Dru, CBS and Sony are undermining their
own financial interests for purely personal reasons. Rowell believes that she
is a fan favorite whose return will help raise Y&R’s ratings.
To get the inside story on examples from DOOL, GH, ATWT and more, go to: http://community.ew.com/2015/02/24/victoria-rowell-lawsuit-the-young-and-the-restless/
