AT&T has confirmed to Business Insider that it has fired Aaron Slator, the subject of a lawsuit, after a text that used the racially charged “n” word was found on his phone.
An AT&T spokesperson sent us this statement. “Aaron Slator has been terminated. There is no place for demeaning behavior within AT&T and we regret the action was not taken earlier.”
A lawsuit has been filed against Slator and numerous other AT&T execs on behalf of Knoyme King, a 50-year-old African-American woman and a 30-year employee of AT&T. King alleges that she “witnessed-and experienced race and age discrimination” at her job and she’s seeking $100 million in damages.
The text in question depicts a black child who is dancing with the caption “It’s Friday [offensive N word]” sent in a text describing the picture as an “oldie but a goodie,” the lawsuit said.
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The lawsuit also alleges that another photo was found on Slator’s phone, a less-than-flattering picture of a black woman standing on the subway. Both the text and the photo are included as evidence in the suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.
This is not to be confused with the $10 billion dollar lawsuit against AT&T and DirecTV in December by The National Association of African American Owned Media (NAAAOM) that also alleged for race discrimination. NAAAOM said it was concerned over a lack of contracts spent with 100 percent African American-owned media companies.
This story originally appeared on Business Insider. Copyright 2015
