Mass Appeal, the multimedia company co-founded by hip-hop icon Nas, was hit this week with a discrimination lawsuit in which a white executive claims she was the victim of “venomous and racist comments about ‘White folk’ and ‘crackers,’” and was subsequently fired.
The lawsuit was filed by Melissa Cooper, a veteran documentary producer who was head of development at Mass Appeal and is white. Media Take Out confirmed that she is allegeing that company executives “discriminated against her by removing her from several high value projects, creating a hostile work environment, and terminating her employment.”
While Nas is not specifically named as a defendant in the lawsuit, he is a partner in Mass Appeal.
Many of the racially charged comments alleged in the lawsuit revolve around Freaknik: The Wildest Party Never Told, a documentary set to debut on Hulu in 2024 that chronicles the rise and fall of a Historically Black College and University picnic that grew into a culturally important Atlanta cultural event.
The complaint includes images of text messages and other material allegedly obtained by Cooper’s legal team.
