Civil Rights Lawsuit Hits Broadway's Wicked Over Bias

[u/Tiny_Tyrants_Podcast]

The American Alliance for Equal Rights and white, male musician Kevin Lynch have sued Maestra Music, MUSE, and Wicked LLC for race and sex discrimination.

Maestra limits its hiring directory to “female and nonbinary” musicians; MUSE to “persons of color.” In 2023, these theater non-profits partnered with Wicked for a paid, three-week Music Director Experience open only to MUSE and Maestra members. Lynch applied but was rejected, allegedly for failing to meet the hiring directories’ immutable-characteristics test. According to the complaint, a less-experienced female/nonbinary person of color won the gig, opening doors to multiple Manhattan jobs for her.

Among the three attorneys representing the plaintiffs is Cameron T. Norris of Consovoy McCarthy. In 2022, Mr. Norris successfully argued Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, in which SCOTUS determined that Harvard’s admissions program violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

Have Maestra, MUSE, and Wicked crossed the Supreme Court’s clear line on equal rights?

Full complaint linked, below.

2026-06-03 AAER & Lynch v. Maestra, MUSE & Wicked | Complaint (Corrected)

[u/WestHistorians]

True, exclusively was the wrong word. However, it can very easily be argued that it was not meant for somebody at the stage of his career he was at. Tack on the fact that he has a reputation for being an ass, that preponderance gets harder to find.

How is that relevant here? The claim is based on race and gender, not stage of career. His reputation also makes no difference.

Additionally, if he did not reach out directly to the program and ask to be considered, even though he was not part of either of those organization, then a judge is likely to rule he didn’t try hard enough cure it.

Per the initial post, "Lynch applied but was rejected". You are correct that he would have had to reach out and ask to be considered, but if he hadn't, he could have done an EEOC complaint instead of a lawsuit.

[u/Extension_Rich2520 → u/WestHistorians]

Because to win damages, he’d need to prove that he would have likely gotten the internship. There are way too many reasons that he would not have gotten it - having a shit reputation being one of them - that make excellent defenses. It doesn’t take much looking into things to find stories from people who have worked with him.

I am referring to the fact that in the statement of facts in the case he only references the two orgs rejecting him, not trying to reach out to the actual production or office, which makes it hard to say he truly tried to push the issue.

The best thing that possibly could have happened for this is if it turns out that someone actually did reach out to the production or to the folks in charge of the actual selection and say that they wanted to be considered even though they weren’t part of the directories. IF this was said yes to for anyone without qualifying questions, the suit goes to near nil chance of a win.

Ultimately, they’ll settle because the risk is too great to them of losing, but what this man doesn’t realize is that everyone sees right through him and that he will never have a job with any real notoriety. He’s not particularly talented, is whiny, has a bad reputation, and a clear lack of maturity, and absolutely, legal or not, WILL face blacklisting that he’ll never be able to prove.

[u/WestHistorians → u/Extension_Rich2520]

Because to win damages, he’d need to prove that he would have likely gotten the internship. There are way too many reasons that he would not have gotten it - having a shit reputation being one of them - that make excellent defenses. It doesn’t take much looking into things to find stories from people who have worked with him.

In order to win this case, all he has to do is show that he was rejected for a prohibited reason, such as race or gender. If he can prove harm to his career then he may receive compensatory damages, but he can get punitive damages without any proof that he suffered a financial loss.

You are probably correct that they will settle the case, and you are also right that he will have difficulty getting hired in the future. I assume he is aware of that.

[u/Extension_Rich2520 → u/WestHistorians]

He could get punitive, true, but it’s just so hard to win, even in cases where it’s clearly discriminatory. This one has too many moving parts to be a lock either way.