Jonah Hill Signs For Management With LBI 
UPDATE: Selma Blair Off ‘Anger Management’ Over … 
TOLDJA! ‘Dumb And Dumber To’ Proves No-Brainer … 
Salma Hayek’s Animated Passion Project ‘The … 
Relativity Moves Scott Cooper’s ‘Out Of The … 
Russell Crowe Sets ‘The Water Diviner’ For … 
Comedy ‘I Didn’t Do It’ Gets Series Order … 
CNN’s ‘New Day’ Debut Up In Demo But … 
Liv Tyler To Co-Star In Damon Lindelof’s HBO Pilot … 
DreamWorks Animation Launches Effort To Re-Position Itself … 
‘Pacific Rim’ Sequel In Planning Stages, … 
Legendary “Down To Handful” Of Studio Suitors: … 
UPDATE: Dan Harmon Apologizes For Comments Slamming … 
Paramount- Montecito Set Black List Scribes Eyal Podell … 
‘Bioshock’ Creator Ken Levine Takes On … 
Deadline Expands: Hires Washington Post Journalist Lisa De … 
Ratings Rat Race: ‘The Voice’ Rises, … 
Angelina Jolie Stunt Double Files First U.S. Phone-Hacking … 
MGM & BermanBraun Sign TV Production Deal, First-Look … 
‘Venus And Serena’ Producer Calls Tennis … 
Kim Basinger In ‘Petit’ Lead For Danish Helmer … 
CAA and WME are not the only Hollywood agencies axing minority assistants. On Friday afternoon, UTA fired Katrina Lopez because of an online blog she was accused of writing called “Confessions of a Hollywood Serial Dater”. Sources claim she never mentioned her workplace, nor UTA, nor the name of any other employee in the blog. But a UTA exec tells me she “chronicled personal details of a UTA employee she was dating” and she “violated numerous company policies as well as the spirit of UTA’s work environment, so she was dismissed. End of story. UTA has zero tolerance for this kind of behavior.” My sources say she is exploring legal action.
Mass Reprimands, 4 Firings At WME Over “Goodbye” Email
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
Loading ...
So – what is the policy with blogs at these big agencies? Employees aren’t supposed to be writing them at all? Or is the conflict of interest that got this woman fired?
Looks like something of a pattern around town. A few months back, THR fired their only editor of color.
Oh please. Being a minority is not a free pass for improper behavior.
You and Nikki are mental midgets, sorry. What exactly does race have anything to do with this? Do you really think Jeremy Zimmer and pals sat around and plotted how they were going to get rid of the Hispanic girl? She was fired because she compromised the privacy of their employees and most likely broke a privacy agreement she signed when she was hired. The next step could have been naming actual people or who knows what. You guys are dogmatic liberal pea brains–race has nothing to do with it, wake up.
hear, hear
WhiteWashing – What does race have anything to do with this situation?
I agree. Never, ever does race figure into anything when white male heterosexuals marginalize others who don’t fit their paradigm. Just ask any white male heterosexual, lol.
Ummm, anyone remember the overt “No Hiring” of gays by Mike Ovitz and company? It was directly confirmed to me by more than one of his agents in the 90′s. Even when we all knew there were 2 gay married men at the agency. Yet it was always denied and we knew it was bullshit.
lol, so they hired a minority, then just bided their time waiting for her to start a blog SO THEY COULD FIRE HER
interesting theory, you should cook up a comedy around this premise
This has been the case at the agencies for years. I am surprised they are still able to get away with it. A law suit probably won’t resolve the issue because , if things are the same at the agencies when I was there, people don’t a) know what’s happening with others and b) are probably still afraid to burn their chances at making in the industry.
Sorry to say this but Katrina had it coming. If she knew dating a fellow employee was against the rules AND blogged about it she’s a moron and deserved to be kicked to the curb. But on another note isn’t this indicative of the confessional nature of things these days. It’s as if her only reason for dating a fellow employee was that so she can write about it. I’m sure UTA can find another person to take her place who will know the rules and follow them.
Are there other UTA employees keeping blogs which violate the privacy of the company who have not been fired because they are Caucasian? The implication that Ms. Lopez was targeted because she is a minority is both offensive and dangerous.
Sounds like they had reason to let her go. Maybe if she did her job instead of blogging about dates she would still be there.
link to site? not coming up in google and im too lazy to look further…
Welcome to the real world, folks. That’s how it works in a big company. It has nothing to do with talent agencies. She would have been dismissed at Procter & Gamble for exactly the same reason.
I fail to see how race plays into this. I’m sure there are plenty of white assistants who have been let go from agencies over the years, and for far less. Proving that racism is the cause of a firing is not an easy thing to do, particularly in the entertainment industry which chews people up and spits them out on a daily basis, regardless of race or gender. So make sure you’re right before you pull the race card out, kiddies…because if can’t make the case, good luck finding another job in the biz or anywhere else.
I’m a writer, I’m a minority. What does her ethnicity have to do with it? To me, racism is coming home to find swastikas on your house. Racism is having a forty-year-old man light your turban on fire when you’re eight years old. Racism is when your Korean grocer has his window clouded in by shaving cream, with “Whites only” spelled on the sidewalk.
Racism is not firing a Generation Y brat who, like every other idiot, thinks having a blog is some sort of shortcut to success. Well, I guess it is, and I can’t blame people for trying to put stuff out there. But it smacks of a generation of young girls, no matter how intelligent and hard-working they may be, raised on Sex and the City Carri-isms who think that it’s cool to be chronicling their lives and the lives of whoever comes in their path. Go add another 900 friends to your Facebook, and realize that for the rest of your life, employers are going to see that you were fired from your job for being a vapid twit. And the potential lawsuit? Have fun on the unemployment line when you can’t even chalk this up to a youthful brain fart, because even the question of a lawsuit means that no employer will ever go near you.
Katrina Lopez. Hear me roar.
Your blanket allegations of racism hurt those of who truly have suffered from bias as it relates to color, creed, gender, sexual orientation, etc.
No, go cry rape somewhere, so a true victim of sexual assault can have her pleas ignored because of your self-centered stupidity.
Even though I’m a person of color, I’m not sure if this is a pattern of unfair firings or a pattern of immature assistants who think it’s more important to blog/write emails than develop their careers by building trust with coworkers and colleagues.
Why hasn’t google ever heard of this blog? I can’t find it.
I would love a link to her site…
News flash! Agencies fire white people all the time also.
Is there one shred of evidence that this assistant was axed because of her race?
How is the fact that she is a minority relevant to the story?
She violated a co-worker’s right to privacy.
lol
this piece (and the first comment) smacks of the old parody of a NYT editorial: “World Ends/Women, Minorities Hardest Hit”
Being a minority should not make one immune from firing for cause. I am a minority, and I think it’s disgusting for you to even bring make this an issue. Minority is a status, not a crutch.
Where is this blog?
Can you provide one iota of evidence that race factored into her termination, or that a non-minority received a less severe penalty for the same infraction? Maybe she just broke the rules and was fired for it? Too boring for you? Have to make every agency look like a racist? I don’t see any connection between her race and employment status and truth be told, this “let’s make every firing about racial/sexual bias” is getting really old/lame.
Aren’t you being a little disingenuous here?
Everyone knows rules don’t apply to everyone in the same way. There are MANY missteps that are done by countless assistants everyday, though the reactions to the screw-ups varies by how “connected” the assistant is. Assistants who received their jobs from CONNECTED parents and family members get waaaaaaay more leniency than others. Assistants who are of a particular religious background are typically given a wider berth for mistakes as well, let’s be honest.
The proof is evident in a sampling of the heads and executives at both the agencies and studio’s, it speaks for itself.
Old school racism is back baby!
I highly doubt her ethnicity had anything to do with her firing.
What was the URL? Want to see said blog.
I believe it’s been taken down.
She wasnt fired because she was a minority – She was fired because she violated company policy. This isnt a minority issue – its an issue of a dumb girl writing about her colleagues. Good for UTA for taking swift action.
Oh I smell the embracing whiff of fresh lawsuit here.
What does it matter that she’s a minority? Are you implying that these agencies are going around and firing targeted minority employees for breaking company policies?
Or, you know, it could just be that they weren’t doing their job….
i think this headline is a bit misleading. i’d have to imagine that anyone who blogs about another employee is going to be dealt with accordingly. assistants can be easily replaced, and it shows a pretty severe lack in judgment to think that UTA would be ok w/ that type of extracurricular behavior even if it wasn’t against the company itself.