B. Scott Comments on BET Email Leak
Celebrity blogger and television personality, B. Scott, released a statement on his blog on Thursday regarding a series of leaked emails between executives at Black Entertainment Television (BET) which support his claim that he was discriminated against based on his gender expression.
Last summer, B. Scott, who identifies as transgender, was hired as a Style Stage Correspondent for the 2013 BET Awards red carpet pre-show. But, according to Scott, he was forced off set, told to change out of his more feminine outfit and into men’s clothing, pull back his hair and remove his makeup. He described the ordeal in a blog post last July.
BET issued an apology, blaming the situation on a miscommunication.
“The incident with B. Scott was a singular one with a series of unfortunate miscommunications from both parties,” the company said via a press release. “We regret any unintentional offense to B. Scott and anyone within the LGBT community and we seek to continue embracing all gender expressions.”
In August, Scott appeared on MSNBC to discuss the incident and the multi-million dollar gender identity discrimination lawsuit he subsequently filed against BET and parent company, Viacom.
The leaked emails released on Thursday appear to substantiate his suit against the media company.
“This email exchange not only corroborates everything I said to be true, but it shows that BET/Viacom tried to cover-up and spin that truth with lies,” B. Scott said in a statement on Thursday. “It’s a shame that a company such as BET/Viacom would rather focus energy towards slandering my reputation in an attempt to further humiliate me instead of learning from their mistakes. The time and energy spent creating a ‘spin’ could have more effectively been used to help create a more welcoming environment for LGBTQ employees.”
Editor’s note: According to an interview B. Scott did with writer and trans* activist, Janet Mock, Scott “welcomes the following preferred gender pronouns (PGPs): he/him, she/her, they/their.”