When Gabrielle Union Said 'America's Got Talent' Have a Toxic Work Environment: "I Couldn't Escape"

In 2020, Gabrielle Union discussed her experiences on America's Got Talent, which ultimately resulted in her dismissal after only one season. With the chance to continue for an additional year, Union served on the panel for the fourteenth season of the wildly popular show. Calling the reality show's work culture 'toxic', Union revealed that she was fired from the sets for criticizing racism and misogyny in 2019, as per Variety.

Union discussed her time at AGT and claimed that she has extreme allergies, and her health issues escalated from the time she arrived on the sets- when show creator and judge Simon Cowell lit up a cigarette in front of her. Union said that the smoke was affecting her ability to do her work, and when she brought it up with the producers, they said nothing could be done.

Union confessed at the time, "[I was] coming on to a set and you are literally met with the very definition of a toxic work environment, and it's being carried out by the most powerful person on the production. I couldn't escape. I ended up staying sick for two months straight. It was a cold that lingered and turned into bronchitis because I couldn't shake it. It impacted my voice, which affects my ability to do my job." Union said that since Judge Howie Mandel was a noted germophobe and sat next to her on stage, he was also negatively impacted by her persistent runny nose.

In addition to criticizing Cowell, Union addressed purported racial concerns with the program in the interview. She expressed surprise at guest judge Jay Leno's reported racist quip. As reported by Variety, the comedian joked that the dogs in the artwork of Cowell and his owner looked like food items from a Korean restaurant. Subsequently, Union expressed her dismay at seeing a white male contestant—whose skill was to morph into a renowned singer, complete with costumes—wear black gloves in an attempt to mimic a black vocalist. She further mentioned Hough's 2013 controversy—in which the dancer was seen darkening her complexion while dressing up as Uzo Aduba's persona from Orange Is the New Black for a Halloween party—and expressed disbelief at the audition's approval.

Union said that she had difficulty deciding whether to voice her worries. She further explained her goal, "At the end of all this, my goal is real change -- and not just on this show but for the larger parent company. It starts from the top down. My goal is to create the happiest, most high-functioning, inclusive, protected, and healthy example of a workplace." As per BBC, that same year Union complained to California's Department of Fair Employment and Housing in June about harassment she had received at America's Got Talent. In response, an NBCUniversal representative said that an 'overarching culture of diversity' was discovered on America's Got Talent after an outside inquiry.