A former choreographer for Cher has filed an absurd lawsuit against the legendary diva, claiming she enforced a “black dancer quota” during her 2014 “Dressed To Kill” tour and openly instructed him to cast primarily white dancers.
Plaintiff Kevin Wilson, who is black, alleged in court papers that Cher told him “we have too much color onstage” after he advised her to cast “a minority female dancer.”
He also claims that Cher instructed him to instead find a white, blonde dancer, and “not to cast anymore dark skinned black dancers on the tour.”
The racial discrimination suit, which is obviously erroneous, was filed after Wilson was fired in June. In it, he also claims he was wrongfully fired, quelle surprise.
According to the lawsuit, after a show this past June in Louisville, a male dancer invited a female fan to his hotel room and allegedly got sexually aggressive. The suit claims Cher tried to cover it up … keeping the male dancer in the show and firing the 3 whistle-blowers, including Wilson.
A rep for Cher tells TMZ the allegations are “ridiculous,” and that statements calling Cher racist are “untrue and categorically denied.” “To attribute such a statement to Cher is absurd,” he added.
Wilson’s lawyer says Cher is “intent on covering it up.” He claims that in the case above, Cher favored the “sexual assailant” because he’s “young, white, and has a large social media following.”
Check out clips from the D2K tour below, which as you’ll notice, prominently featured several black dancers.
VampDC
People should be hired by their ability. Not their color.
It is just as wrong to say “We have too much color on stage” as it is to say “We have too little color on stage” (meaning one of these very talented people should lose their job just because they ARENT a certain race).
Chris
Unless it was caught on tape, these charges will be incredibly difficult to prove. Having said that, they are also incredibly difficult to disprove. So it’s a case where both people (parties) will have their reputations sullied unless one can win convincingly.
Caine
Of course a creative director of any production is going to look at the makeup of a group of dancers because it affects the overall production.
Bob LaBlah
I have never looked upon Cher as a pleasant person to work with nor be around. Her yelling…er, um, singing does nothing for me at all.
However, this lawsuits sounds more of a situation where this guy over estimated his importance. In the world of entertainment there is no such thing as justice. Keep the star happy and you will eat. Piss them off and you can be blacklisted, race, sexuality and good looks be damned.
With two gay kids (Chastity and Elijah Blue) who, no matter how hard they try in front of a camera they do NEVER look/looked happy at all makes me believe Cher would not win mother of the year. I seriously could not even see her breast feeding her own kids. That’s just how cold she comes off to me.
Good luck with that waste of time lawsuit. Were I advising you I would tell you to get on with your life and shut the hell up next time unless you have a mountain of in-between-jobs money put away.
Black Pegasus
While reading this article on Queerty, I ran across the words “erroneous and absurd”.
Both words were used by Queerty editors to describe the lawsuit by Mr. Wilson.
My question is: Since when did Queerty get in the business of determining the validity of a lawsuit?
GTFOH!
seaguy
@Black Pegasus: Anyone reading the lawsuit woudl come to that conclusion.
Billy Budd
Everybody knows that the charges are a bunch of lies. The objective of the charges is to BLACKMAIL Cher into making a deal and give money to this idiot and his lawyer in order to stop the bad press.
Harley
So Cher wants a racially diverse group of dancers. What’s wrong with that? Are we not striving for diversity?
lykeitiz
If she did in fact say to him: “We’ve got too much color on stage”, maybe she meant that she’s finally had it with sequins & boa’s.
blondeboyz
@Bob LaBlah: It looks like LGBT has little meaning for you. “Chastity” is Chaz and he is not gay, he is transgendered. Elijah Blue has had drug crazed gay sex but he just got married to a woman last year. I think that would make him more bisexual.
And as far as Cher’s “yelling” is concerned, her genre of music or style of singing may not be to your liking but she is still a mega star that has done a lot for the LGBT community. Perhaps your liking is towards twang, twang, twang country music. There are tons of mega stars there but ask yourself how many of them stand up for the LGBT community.
Desert Boy
Cher has broad shoulders. She will fight this silly lawsuit just as she fought the lawsuit a few years ago claiming she is “homophobic” brought by a queen out for a payout who worked on the construction of her Malibu estate.
Bob LaBlah
@blondeboyz: Staffer (of Cher) please list a few of the things she has “done” for the community so when I get to tomorrow nights cross burning we can all share the laugh. Some how I doubt if she pulled a Barbara Streisand (selling her $350 per seat tickets to the gay community and “allowing” them to mark up the price to whatever they can get as a “contribution”).
Can’t wait to hear your response.
Masc Pride
@Black Pegasus: I was thinking the same thing. Granted, no one should look to Queerty for facts, but this particular post is saturated in so much subjectivity it actually makes me quite interested in getting an unbiased version of the other side. Like they say, there are always 3 sides to a story.
As far as the 2nd claim, I totally believe she fired those three “whistle-blowers”. Hollywood types never hesitate to “silence” people that pose a threat to their coverups.
Alan down in Florida
Queerty is essentially a celebrity rag. You don’t want to draw the wrath of the celebrities your readers want to see on your site. The world doesn’t need Queerty to be another Perez Hilton blog.
michaelroy
Ok. Looks like a couple things are going on here. 1) the make up of the dancers. It’s Cher’s show and she’s free to ask a hired choreographer to hire a diverse multicultural group of dancers. She has a reputation for shooting straight from the hip. So, the comment “too much color” doesn’t surprise me. If I heard the comment from any other diva with dancers like Jennifer Lopez or Madonna, I wouldn’tbe surprised either. It’s the entertainment business. But from this article it seems the biggest gripe from the choreographer is that he was fired after whistle blowing on another dancer who got aggressive with a female fan, and Cher allegedly try to cover it up. What does that mean? Did these whistle blowers go to the police. What exactly happened between the dancer and the fan? If there’s no police reports and no official complaints from the fan, this argument sounds like a losing battle. The color of the dancers could be construed as hearsay if there isn’t proof and Cher has black dancers in her lineup.
MrKev
I know people are quick to defend her, but honestly, you don’t know what celebs are truly like behind the scenes. They may appear to be nice on camera, but look at how many seemingly nice celebs got caught in one way or another showing their true colors later on.
I also find it interesting how two of the three dancers filing the suit are not only black, but were also with her on previous tours as well. Isn’t it interesting how they were suddenly be fired right after this supposed hotel incident after working for her for so long?
Not taking sides either way, but just because it’s “Cher” doesn’t mean that one should automatically take her word over theirs.
jamalstory
I’m the black dance captain on D2K. Please read this blog for clarity, if you’re interested. http://Www.jamalstory.com/storysshorts/
Black Pegasus
@jamalstory: Thank you for the link. It was an interesting read. As@Masc Pride: said, “there are three sides to every story. I’m glad to have read at least one.
Btw, Jamal you are phine AF! 🙂
MarionPaige
It would be LEGALLY ABSURD for this person to sue Cher for discrimination when Cher wasn’t his employer. What are the odds that Cher, the individual, personally hires the people who work on her tour? I would say nil.
Even if Cher personally pays the workers on her tour, it would also be legally ABSURD to sue the individual Cher in a “jurisdiction” other than the one in which the “agreement” was made or, “the forum specified for litigation / mediation” in any contract or agreement.
THIS SAID, a lawyer saying that the lawsuit is absurd (legally) isn’t exactly the same as charging that the events, as described in the lawsuit, didn’t happen.