SPRINT EMPLOYEE FIRED OVER LUDACRIS BOOKING: Woman tried to hire rapper for office party; boss accused of discrimination.

*A white woman formerly employed at Sprint Nextel Corp. says she was fired after securing rapper Ludacris to perform at a company party, supposedly without first obtaining permission of her boss, reports the Kansas City Star.


In a lawsuit filed last month in federal court in Kansas City, Kan., Elizabeth Henry says her boss approved a “Rock Star” theme for an event in Las Vegas that was to reward the company’s top call center workers. Heeding their pleas for an African American entertainer at the event, Henry’s choice of Ludacris and LL Cool J were approved by her boss, the lawsuit states.



Henry eventually secured Ludacris, but problems began after another employee allegedly told her boss that “she must be into the black thing” because Ludacris was retained, according to the lawsuit.


Henry said she informed her boss that Ludacris’ performance would stick to “PG-13 standards” but if she was still concerned, Henry could get another performer. She reminded her boss that the call center employees requested an African-American entertainer.


Her boss allegedly responded that any black performer would be controversial. Henry called the remark discriminatory.


After a nearly five-hour interrogation session by the company’s corporate security officers, Henry said she was cleared of any wrongdoing and received no reprimand. Planning for the event, however, was handed over to Sprint’s events marketing team. Later that same day, Henry alleges, her boss told her she was fired.


“She said she was terminating her for insubordination,” said Henry’s lawyer, Brendan J. Donelon of the Donelon Law Office. “She said it had to do with the fact that she retained Ludacris as the entertainer without her permission. I think what happened is that her boss approved it and didn’t think anything of it until somebody said, ‘Hey, have you ever listened to their music or know who they are?’ and her boss was like, ‘Whoa, wait a minute.’”


Meanwhile, the event that was to feature Ludacris never took place. Henry has since found other employment, but at a third the salary she made at Sprint. Her suit seeks unspecified damages for retaliation.