A new age discrimination lawsuit against Hallmark accuses the studio of targeting “old people” like Holly Robinson Peete and Lacey Chabert.
The complaint names Hallmark’s Executive VP of programming, Lisa Hamilton Daly, who allegedly told her staff she didn’t want to cast “old people,” claiming they didn’t align with her vision for the channel, Variety reports. Hamilton Daly allegedly singled out Robinson Peete, 60, and Chabert, 42—regulars on the channel who have starred in numerous holiday movies and shows—as examples of “old talent” that needed to be “replaced,” the lawsuit states.
“No one wants her because she’s too expensive and getting too old,” Hamilton Daly allegedly said of Robinson Peete. “She can’t play leading roles anymore.”
As for Chabert, Hamilton Daly is quoted as allegedly saying the Mean Girls star is “getting older, and we have to find someone like her to replace her as she gets older.”
Hallmark has since replied to the suit to show its solidarity and support of Robinson Peete and Chabert.
“Lacey and Holly have a home at Hallmark. We do not generally comment on pending litigation,” the statement read. “And while we deny these outrageous allegations, we are not going to discuss an employment relationship in the media.”
The suit was filed on Oct. 9 in Los Angeles Superior Court by Penny Perry, a 79-year-old casting director who alleges that she was abruptly fired in April due to Hamilton Daly’s age discrimination. According to the complaint, Hamilton Daly repeatedly told Perry, a nine-year veteran at Hallmark, that she was “too long in the tooth” and sought to have her removed as part of a goal of finding “new talent.”
“We need to bring in someone who knows more young talent,” the executive said, according to the suit. “Our leading ladies are aging out.”
Perry’s suit cites her multiple sclerosis diagnosis and says she is legally blind in one eye, alleging that Hallmark failed to provide necessary accommodations for her disability. The veteran casting director, known for her work on Cocoon, Young Guns, and The NeverEnding Story, claims she was fired despite consistently receiving strong annual performance evaluations, including one just two months before her termination.
The suit alleges that shortly after Hamilton Daly was hired as Hallmark’s EVP of programming in September 2021, she wasted no time deciding that Perry was “too old to work in her position and maneuvered to push her out of the company.” She claims to have been treated differently, including having her office relocated to a different floor, being excluded from meetings, and her casting responsibilities on one project being reassigned to an outside consultant. After her termination, Perry alleges the company replaced her with a younger man.
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