"The Big Bang Theory" crew is being slapped with an age discrimination lawsuit after Christopher Klausen claimed that the show's producers conspired to remove him from the show after he turned 50.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Klausen filed the age discrimination suit in a Los Angeles Superior Court against Warner Bros. Television, which produces the popular CBS sitcom. He claims that his involvement in the show has been reduced season after season until they finally had him terminated after the eighth season.
Klausen, who has worked on "Diff'rent Strokes" and "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air" has become second assistant director and stage manager and even first assistant director in television for over 30 years, and he was part of "The Big Bang Theory" as a second assistant director on the pilot, which aired back in 2007.
But in 2012, when he hit 50, he felt that things started to change. The producers passed on his duties of interacting with the actors to Nicole Lorre, "who was in her early-to-mid twenties" and T. Ryan Brennan, "who was in his early thirties."
"Mr. Klausen noticed that the stars of the show, which are all considerably younger, began to ostracise [sic.] him after he turned fifty (50) years old," his complaint further stated.
When he confronted producer Faye Oshima Belyeu about this, she simply explained that Lorre and Brennan "related to the actors better." But in his complaint, he said that "the only reason that Ms. Lorre and Mr. Brennan 'relate(d) to the actors better' are because they are younger than Mr. Klausen."
During the show's seventh season, Klausen complained that he went from being the second assistant director to becoming the second second assistant director, and his duty was reduced to just blocking the actors. Several times, he was also asked to stand in for the first assistant director, which only proves that the lessening of responsibilities was not due to poor performance on his part.
When he was fired by Oshima Belyeu via a phone call, she was unable to provide sufficient reasons as to why his performance has been insufficient, and therefore he concluded that he was fired due to his age.
"The Big Bang Theory" will air its ninth season on September 21 this year, with the principal cast including Johnny Galecki (Leonard Hofstadter), Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting (Penny), and Emmy-award winner Jim Parsons (Sheldon Cooper) each receiving $1 million per episode.
