The ratings trouble plaguing Oprah's teetering television dominion, OWN, has been well-documented, but now the network is facing a good old-fashioned sex discrimination suit. Actually, not so good, at least not if the lawsuit filed Friday by Carolyn Hommel, the former senior director of scheduling and acquisitions at OWN, bears any credence. Hommel says she was cheerily scaling the corporate ladder to a VP position when all of a sudden she got pregnant, and smacked her head right against the glass ceiling:
According to Hommel ... her duties were slowly transferred to a temporary employee and she was excluded from meetings when she returned from medical leave. Hommel claims she was let go ONE MONTH after giving birth and told to re-apply for the VP gig ... only to be passed over.
Furthermore, Hommel claims her boss, Michael Garner, fabricated a performance review that "made Hommel's job duties and responsibilities appear less 'senior' and therefore not a candidate for the new vice president position."
Ick. The only thing OWN has going for it now is that Lance Armstrong interview nobody really cared about. [TMZ]
- Those of you getting ready to buy your Vegas timeshare so you could have easy access to the Britney Spears experience at Caesar's Palace can start looking for better things to blow your money on. Caesar's confirms that the Britney will not have her own nightly show, and I can only suspect that Wayne Newton is somehow to blame. [Buzzfeed]
- Frank Ocean announced on his Tumblr that he will neither press charges nor retaliate physically against noted pugilist Chris Brown for allegedly punching him over a parking space. "As a child," Ocean explained, "I thought if someone jumped me it would result in me murdering or mutilating a man. But as a man i am not a killer. I'm an artist and a modern person. I'll choose sanity." [Frank Ocean]
- Justin Timberlake brought his sexy back to New Orleans on the eve of the Super Bowl, a gladiatorial event that history professors in the future will describe as a barbaric consumerist headbutting spectacle sponsored by carbonated beverages and corn-based delicacies known as "Doritos." [AP]
- A photographer tried politely to ask Justin Bieber about his recent sizzurp exploits, but Justin Biber just ignored the poor man before hurtling away in his horseless Italian chariot. [TMZ]
- Not only did Jennifer O'Neill, the former assistant now suing Lady Gaga, used to be a Gaga BFF, she also shared a bed with Gaga because Gaga cannot fall asleep without at least three stuffed animals and one human person under the covers with her. [Page Six]
- Who is the singer best equipped to pay tribute to the late Whitney Houston on a CBS special? Surely not Taylor Swift, right? No, definitely Taylor Swift. [Taste of Country]
- Sergei Fillin, the Bolshoi Ballet's artistic director, is "absolutely certain" he knows who threw acid in his face last month. [BBC]
- Paula Deen's assistant got to go on the Paula Deen IMAX Family Cruise Experience 3D, but tweeted almost immediately after casting off from Galveston, "This is a floating nursing home!!!!" [Gothamist]
- John Mayer and Katy Perry held hands on a street carpeted with the deciduous tears of Mother Nature . [E!]
- Kate Middleton went shopping with her royal fetus. [E!]
- Beyoncé will be performing at the Super Bowl halftime show gratis. You're welcome, America. [VF]