By: Amanda Anderson-Niles
Wendy Williams has a hit with her daytime talk show, but there’s always some background drama making headlines in the tabloids. The most recent report claimed Wendy’s husband Kevin Hunter was causing chaos behind the scenes, and allegedly making things miserable for employees of the show because he acts as if the show is his own.
Now former interns are calling out the daytime talk show and fighting back with a lawsuit.
The Wrap writes:
A former intern for “The Wendy Williams Show” alleges that Lionsgate Entertainment unlawfully classified him and others as exempt from minimum wages, according to a putative class action lawsuit filed in New York.
Lead plaintiff Anthony Tart said that the show’s distributor Lionsgate and its subsidiary Debmar-Mercury, which produces the show, have a policy of hiring unpaid interns in violation of federal and New York state laws.
“Defendants’ unlawful conduct has been pursuant to a corporate policy or practice of minimizing labor costs by denying named plaintiff and the putative class members compensation,” he said in the complaint, which was filed Friday.
Tart claims in the suit filed that he and other interns were forced to do tasks such as wash dishes, take out garbage and get coffee for the show’s heavyweights. His beef with the internship is he feels the interns spent too much time doing those mundane tasks and the internship didn’t provide enough educational training.
Tart also feels interns were only hired for these tasks so the studio wouldn’t have to hire paid employees instead.
But isn’t this what most internships are like? The only way you get more out of your internships is if you make it that way. These companies don’t give a damn if you learn or not.
Agreed. He didn’t endure anything most of us haven’t endured just to get started in our careers.
Exactly…… it was up to him to learn and get whatever he could get out of it.
This is typical. At least he’s trying to fight it though.
I may catch some flack but I’d say the majority of internships treat you like the help. I know one of my college internships I spent the entire day cleaning out my intern supervisors office. Internships are what you make of them..I had to work my a-s off and put my foot down to get a worthwhile experience.
Wendy could care less I’m sure. I feel bad of the interns but a lot of internships are like this.
What kind of bullish-t? Is this self entitled 90s baby serious? This is the standard internship. Sh-t I was making coffee, answering phones, making copies and putting together presentations. I worked hard for no pay but the experience on my resume got me a damn good job. It was totally worth it and I’d do it again. These young kids are too damn soft for my taste. They complain about everything.
This is dumb. I’m sure Wendy started off with a free internship, where she was giving people coffee and taking out trash too. Now look at where she is.
An internship is what you make it. It can be a foot in the door if you’re smart, or a waste of time if you refuse to humble yourself.
I have to agree! I can’t stand Wendell on a normal day, but an internship is an opportunity to either get in on the ground floor, or to add to the experience on your resume. He sounds like those kids nowadays who come out of college looking for six figures, and a corner office, without putting in the hard work necessary.
*standing ovation*
So then can I go and sue all the companies who gave me an internship?
This is what people are suing for nowadays? *sucks teeth*
Made me think about Diddy and his damn cheesecake…. lol
That was a historic moment in television.
Seriously?
No one wants to work hard anymore. They just want success handed to them.
B-tcha-sness.
Most internships are unpaid though. Lol
These freeking lawyers are such scum. The only thing lower than these people who sue for a living are their dirt bag attorneys. So now there will be no more interns. Those of you with no experience and no hope of any experience cause you dont have any experience better figure something else out. What a litigious pile of bullsh-t