No Black People On The Bachelor Because Of First Amendment, ABC Argues
June 4 2012, Published 1:30 p.m. ET
By Breaking Celebrity News Staff
There are new developments in the legal ranglings between ABC and Nathaniel Claybrooks and Christopher Johnson, two Tennessee residents who've sued the network claiming The Bachelor and The Bachelorette have broken civil rights laws in not casting any African American people in the lead roles on either show.
Currently, the topics on the table include where the case will be held, and how ABC intends to have the case dismissed, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
ABC is pushing for the lawsuit to be decided in California, where they say all of the casting has been done, and most witnesses in the case live.
ABC -- represented by lawyers Adam Levin and Seth Pierce at Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp -- is also hoping to have the case thrown out under the guise that "television casting decisions are protected by the First Amendment" citing two cases (Ingels v. Westwood One Broadcasting Services and Hurley v. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Group of Boston, Inc.).