Months after Gabrielle Union’s dismissal from “America’s Got Talent,” the star is breaking her silence about her experience on the show, which made headlines last fall.
At the time, Union was judging her inaugural season on the hit NBC talent competition show. But months after the season, which included longtime judges Simon Cowell, who is also the show's executive producer, comedian Howie Mandel and fellow newcomer Julianne Hough, who was also dismissed after that stint, Variety published a report about the culture of "AGT" that season.
» RELATED: OPINION: Is Gabrielle Union's truth really that different from Julianne Hough's?
Union had asked NBC and the show's producers to address her concerns over a toxic culture on the set. Among her issues was an alleged joke told by guest judge Jay Leno about a painting of Cowell and his dogs, of which he allegedly said the animals looked like items "on the menu at a Korean restaurant," sources told Variety.
"My first big interview in this industry, the first person who allowed me to come on their talk show, was Jay Leno. I've always held him in high regard, but I was not prepared for his joke," Union told the publication in an interview published Wednesday. "I gasped. I froze. Other things had already happened, but at this point, it was so wildly racist."
Union, who along with Hough had the contractual option to return for another season, said she was told it would be edited out, something she said she’d hear throughout the season.
“You cannot edit out what we just experienced. There is not an edit button in my brain or in my soul. To experience this kind of racism at my job and there be nothing done about it, no discipline, no companywide email, no reminder of what is appropriate in the workplace?” she said.
Variety reported Leno declined to comment.
Along with other issues concerning race, such as what Union said was a lack of adequate hair and makeup, she also said the show didn’t have a policy of using preferred pronouns. The actress also took issue with Cowell’s smoking, which she said made her sick and bothered Mandel.
Mandel did not comment but Cowell said through a spokesperson he “immediately changed his behavior and the issue was never raised again.”
“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,” Union told Variety. “My goal is to create the happiest, most high-functioning, inclusive, protected and healthy example of a workplace.”
For the show's part, an investigation into the allegations of a racist and toxic culture found "no one associated with the show made any insensitive or derogatory remarks about Ms. Union's appearance, and that neither race nor gender was a contributing factor in the advancement or elimination of contestants at any time," a statement said in part according to USA Today. "The investigation has shown that the concerns raised by Ms. Union had no bearing on the decision not to exercise the option on her contract."
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