John Lowe
John Lowe
Urman is forged as a central figure within the criticism alongside her lieutenants, Renna and Lieber.
Within the lawsuit, Lowe details a series of sexual comments aimed toward him that were also meant to be racially demeaning. He was told shortly after he began that his shoe size and race meant he was “well-endowed down there,” one in every of several alleged comments about his sex life that included a matter about “how he handled a person’s genitals,” in accordance with the criticism.
The lawsuit points to an incident during which Urman brought her dog into the writers’ room, declaring that her children not wanted it. She coerced Lowe into keeping it for nearly a 12 months, in accordance with the criticism. The author claims the demand was “racially motivated harassment and an exercise of supervisory power designed to burden him.”
“She said ‘so long as you could have this dog, you’ll all the time have a spot here,’” Lowe says.
The racially-charged comments allegedly reached the forged, in accordance with the criticism. On one occasion, Renna allegedly stated that Eme Ikwuakor, a Black recurring forged member, “can barely read.” In one other incident, she allegedly called Lowe late at night and told him she was in bed wearing only her underwear, the lawsuit claims.
The situation reached a boiling point in June 2025 when Lowe asked Urman whether the writers’ room would observe Juneteenth. She responded to him by calling the day “Coonteenth,” the lawsuit alleges.
“I had prayed for this moment — to be on a Paramount film set,” says Lowe, who adds that he spent the following work week crying in empty soundstages. “She said it on purpose as a way of letting me know that she owns me to a level.”
Shortly after, Lowe was placed on hiatus. He says he was terminated in July, lower than two weeks after he raised concerns concerning the way during which the writers’ room was being managed. The lawsuit alleges his firing was retaliatory.
“There isn’t any excuse for this blatant racism and harassment,” said Ron Zambrano, a lawyer for Lowe, in a press release. “CBS ought to be ashamed for allowing it, and the Matlock showrunner and producers ought to be held accountable.”
Matlock has been a breakout hit for CBS, averaging 16 million cross-platform viewers over 35 days in its first season. The series, a meta-update of the Nineteen Eighties and ’90s show featuring Andy Griffith, stars Kathy Bates as a lawyer who restarts her profession at a Recent York firm, Leah Lewis, Skye P. Marshall and Jason Ritter.
The filing of the lawsuit comes after Matlock actor David Del Rio was abruptly fired from the production for sexual assault in an incident involving him and an unnamed female member of the forged.
Earlier this 12 months, Del Rio initiated arbitration against CBS Studios. He alleged that evidence undermining the allegations against him weren’t fully considered before he was terminated.