The New York Times Building, a 52-story skyscraper on the west side of Midtown Manhattan, is seen in a file photo dated Jan. 15, 2025, in New York City. (Al Drago / Getty Images)
By Joe Saunders May 5, 2026 at 5:12pm
The New York Times is making news itself these days, with a “diversity and inclusion” drive that’s dragged it into court.
One of the most influential liberal news outlets in the nation is facing a federal lawsuit from President Donald Trump’s administration over alleged discrimination against an unidentified white male employee in favor of women, blacks, and other nonwhites when a promotion was at stake.
And the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission clearly isn’t fooling around.
And so it begins. There are millions out there who could say and the same. I am one of them. At the height of DEI I was told by Sr. Exec. not to bother and apply for a better position because “I did not wear the right uniform”.
— The Fall Of Rome (@FallofRome) May 5, 2026
In the lawsuit, according to the New York Post, the alleged victim claimed the Times employee had been passed over for a promotion in favor of a final panel of candidates that included “a white woman, a Black man, an Asian female and a multiracial female.”
According to a New York Times report about the suit, the alleged victim claimed that the promotion of a white man would fail to follow the newspaper’s own goals as described in a 2021 document called “Call to Action.”
“A decrease in the percentage of White male employees (whether new hires, existing employees, or those in leadership, as appropriate) was a necessary consequence for the NYT to achieve these results,” the article noted, citing the lawsuit.
The man at the heart of the issue has been working at the newspaper since 2014, according to the New York Times report. Last year, he applied for a job as deputy real estate editor, the newspaper stated. He did get one interview for the job, but never made it to the panel interview stage.
The EEOC lawsuit claims he is more qualified than the person who received the promotion.
The lawsuit seeks to force The New York Times to stop “discriminating against employees because of race or sex” and “eradicate the effects of its past and present unlawful employment practices,” the newspaper reported.
There’s no way of knowing from the outside whether the lawsuit has merit, or whether the man is, in fact, more qualified than the individual who eventually got the seat. However, the newspaper does have an explicit “Diversity and Inclusion” program that breaks down its staff and leadership by race and sex.
As news of the lawsuit spread, many social media users immediately took to the cyber world to accuse The New York Times of bypassing the man because of the color of his skin:
An institution that lectures the country on “equity” is now being sued for discrimination.
DEI always sounds noble—until it meets federal law.— Matthew Newgarden (@a_newgarden) May 5, 2026
I hope they take it to the lm cleaners. @nytimes is run and controlled by a vast majority of POC and women. That is why they have become a radical left rag that only radical liberals read. https://t.co/AZTNSL850i
— HarlemNYC (@nyc_harlemm) May 5, 2026
Anti-white racism nees to be abolished.
— Lib Tears (@CornPop76448421) May 5, 2026
Times spokeswoman Rhoades Ha denied the claims of discrimination in their entirety.
“The allegation centers on a single personnel decision for one of over 100 deputy positions across the newsroom, yet the E.E.O.C.’s filing makes sweeping claims that ignore the facts to fit a predetermined narrative,” she said,” according to her newspaper.
“Neither race nor gender played a role in this decision — we hired the most qualified candidate, and she is an excellent editor.”
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Joe has spent more than 30 years as a reporter, copy editor and metro desk editor in newsrooms in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Florida. He’s been with Liftable Media since 2015.
Joe has spent more than 30 years as a reporter, copy editor and metro editor in newsrooms in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Florida. He’s been with Liftable Media since 2015. Largely a product of Catholic schools, who discovered Ayn Rand in college, Joe is a lifelong newspaperman who learned enough about the trade to be skeptical of every word ever written. He was also lucky enough to have a job that didn’t need a printing press to do it.
Birthplace
Philadelphia
Nationality
American
