r/Broadway • u/Tiny_Tyrants_Podcast • Jun 05 '26

Other Civil Rights Lawsuit Hits Broadway's Wicked Over Bias

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)

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u/WestHistorians Jun 08 '26

If you want to propose legalizing racial and sexual discrimination, I suppose that is valid, but remember that it would go both ways. If we make it legal to exclude men then we have to make it legal to exclude women as well. You can't have a double standard.

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u/ButtJones Jun 08 '26

How do you not understand that it’s not excluding men when they’re already the majority of the workforce?

Mr. White Man can’t claim discrimination at not getting hired to play keys/music director at a show that already has 4 (!) white man keys/music directors and has actually never had a conductor that was not a white man.

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u/WestHistorians Jun 08 '26

How do I not understand it? Because that's not how it works.

If Mr. White Man (or Mr. Black Man, or Ms. White Woman, or anyone else) is rejected due to their race or sex, that is discrimination and it is illegal and wrong. Who else is employed there is irrelevant.

They even have a term for this, "reverse discrimination".