A former high-ranking employee of Nas’ Mass Appeal imprint, which includes Mass Appeal Magazine and Mass Appeal Records, filed a racial discrimination lawsuit in a Manhattan court yesterday (October 17), claiming to be a victim of racist comments about white people.
Melissa Cooper claims that she was the victim of racist and venomous statements made about “white folk” and “crackers” until she was ultimately fired. Copper claims that the racist comments were made during the production of the upcoming Freaknik documentary set to air on Hulu in 2024. It was alleged that the Senior V.P. for partnerships and content acquisition, a Black woman named Jenya Meggs, was upset that she didn’t appear in the documentary. Still, Copper did appear in the upcoming production. Meggs allegedly texted an executive producer, saying it was “usual white folk behavior.”
Copper says that a confrontation occurred between her and Meggs, which led to her being removed from the project by Mass Appeal CEO Peter Bittenbender.
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“Bittenbender removed Cooper from a number of projects, including Mass Appeal’s Hip Hop 50 Live concert at Yankee Stadium planned for August 11, 2023,” the suit reads. “Cooper’s removal from this important project, along with others Meggs was staffed on, effectively stripped Cooper of her primary role at Mass Appeal.”
Copper was fired in June, and no investigation into her claims of racial discrimination was ever conducted.
Nas was not named in the lawsuit by Cooper.
TheSource.com will follow up with more details about this story as they are made available.
