Greg Spottiswood, the creator and co-showrunner of the popular CBS court drama Everyone gets up, was fired from his program after numerous allegations of misconduct in the workplace. Deadline reports that Spottiswood was involved in “unprofessional conduct in the series ‘writers’ room, including the use of offensive language that sparked accusations of racism,” alleged behavior that previously spurred a riot of writers to drop out of the program in the summer of 2020. Warner Bros. Television, which produces Everyone gets up, confirmed Spottiswood’s departure, adding that “we remain committed, at all times, to providing a safe and inclusive work environment in our productions and for all employees”. Spottiswood was also dropped by his agency, APA.
Everyone gets up, a rare program on the television network that featured a black protagonist, had five of its seven original screenwriters fired last summer. Speaking to New York Times about their decisions to leave, the writers claimed that Spottiswood used to write “racist and offensive” scripts that required significant rewrites, with an American Indian writer claiming “I was only there because I am the brown guy”. Spottiswood apologized at the time, saying that “I recognized that I needed to change the way I was working”. He also voluntarily sought out management training and leadership coaching. Dee Harris-Lawrence, who serves as Everyone gets upco-showrunner of, will continue in his role and will now be leading the show alone.