‘Matlock’ Writer Sues CBS Over Allegedly Racist and Sexual Comments

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CBS Television Studios has been sued by a writer on Matlock, who accuses the show’s top brass of directing disparaging sexual and racist comments at him and other Black cast and crew members.

The writer, John Lowe, alleges in a lawsuit filed on Wednesday in California state court that Matlock‘s showrunner and executive producers created a hostile work environment “permeated by sexually explicit and discriminatory conduct.” He was terminated after allegedly reporting an incident in which his supervisor referred to Juneteenth as “Coonteenth.”

“It’s vicious in a writers room as a Black creative,” Lowe claims, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “You’re either treated like a threat or a pet.”

The lawsuit names CBS Television Studios, Matlock showrunner Jennie Snyder Urman and executive producers Nicki Renna and Jeffrey Lieber. It seeks unspecified damages and brings claims for hostile work environment and failure to prevent harassment.

“We are committed to maintaining a safe and respectful environment for everyone and take all workplace complaints seriously,” said a CBS Studios spokesperson in a statement. “In this instance, a thorough investigation was completed, and we were unable to find support for his allegations. We look forward to defending this lawsuit.”

Lowe was hired as an executive story editor for Matlock in October 2023 after a writing stint on Netflix’s Virgin River. For years before that, he served in the casting department on several reality shows, including Survivor, Project Runway and Under the Gun.

Urman is cast as a central figure in the complaint alongside her lieutenants, Renna and Lieber.

In the lawsuit, Lowe details a series of sexual comments aimed at him that were also meant to be racially demeaning. He was told shortly after he started that his shoe size and race meant he was “well-endowed down there,” one of several alleged comments about his sex life that included a question about “how he handled a man’s genitals,” according to the complaint.

The lawsuit points to an incident in which Urman brought her dog into the writers’ room, declaring that her children no longer wanted it. She coerced Lowe into keeping it for nearly a year, according to the complaint. The writer claims the demand was “racially motivated harassment and an exercise of supervisory power designed to burden him.”

“She said ‘as long as you have this dog, you’ll always have a place here,'” Lowe says.

The racially-charged comments allegedly reached the cast, according to the complaint. On one occasion, Renna allegedly stated that Eme Ikwuakor, a Black recurring cast member, “can barely read.” In another incident, she allegedly called Lowe late at night and told him she was in bed wearing only her underwear, the lawsuit claims.

The situation reached a boiling point in June 2025 when Lowe asked Urman whether the writers’ room would observe Juneteenth. She responded to him by calling the day “Coonteenth,” the lawsuit alleges.

“I had prayed for this moment — to be on a Paramount film set,” says Lowe, who adds that he spent the subsequent work week crying in empty soundstages. “She said it on purpose as a way of letting me know that she owns me to a degree.”

Shortly after, Lowe was placed on hiatus. He says he was terminated in July, less than two weeks after he raised concerns about the way in which the writers’ room was being managed. The lawsuit alleges his firing was retaliatory.

“There is no excuse for this blatant racism and harassment,” said Ron Zambrano, a lawyer for Lowe, in a statement. “CBS should be ashamed for allowing it, and the Matlock showrunner and producers should be held accountable.”

Matlock has been a breakout hit for CBS, averaging 16 million cross-platform viewers over 35 days in its first season. The series, a meta-update of the 1980s and ’90s show featuring Andy Griffith, stars Kathy Bates as a lawyer who restarts her career at a New York firm, Leah Lewis, Skye P. Marshall and Jason Ritter.

The filing of the lawsuit comes after Matlock actor David Del Rio was abruptly fired from the production for sexual assault in an incident involving him and an unnamed female member of the cast.

Earlier this year, Del Rio initiated arbitration against CBS Studios. He alleged that evidence undermining the allegations against him weren’t fully considered before he was terminated.

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