The heinous murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers has sparked a reckoning for people to come forward and openly discuss how they’ve encountered racism and abuse in the workplace.
In the comedy world, not everything is laughing matter.
Chicago’s Second City improv company, which has been a breeding ground for comedy’s top talent, is being accused for also being a haven for racism and misconduct.
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Emmy Award winning “Saturday Night Live” writer and performer Chris Redd, “Veep” actor Sam Richardson, “Late Night with Seth Meyers” writer Amber Ruffin and “Space Force” writer Aasia LaShay Bullock are among the 19 black alumni and current employees calling out the comedy institution for its institutionalized racist practices.
In an open letter, made public on Monday, they accuse the improv company of “erasure, racial discrimination, manipulation, pay inequity, tokenism, monetization of Black culture, and trauma-inducing experiences of Black artists…”
The letter calls for “A thorough investigation and removal of teachers, producers, directors and other administrative staff guilty of micro aggressions, racial transgressions, cultural appropriation, mental and verbal abuse against the Black artists who built your stages.”
The correspondence also calls for an investigation into “organization-wide and immediate removal of anybody guilty of sexual assault” and a “revision and proper accreditation” of the contributions of the black artists “who built your stages.”
A wide-open letter to the Second City. pic.twitter.com/LfpfB13grv
— Chris Redd (@Reddsaidit) June 8, 2020
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The demand, signed by the 19 current and former Second City associates, comes on the heels of Second City CEO and co-owner Andrew Alexander’s resignation last week over accusations of institutional racism.
“The Second City cannot begin to call itself anti-racist,” the 76-year-old sketch comedy kingmaker said in a statement. “That is one of the great failures of my life.”
Since 1974, Alexander has helped launch that careers of Gilda Radner, John Candy, Dan Aykroyd, Eugene Levy and Martin Short, among others, through the for-profit company.