A former writer for the SEAL Team TV show said growing sentiment against DEI policies might have played a role in his recent settlement with CBS and Paramount.
Brian Beneker, who worked as a freelance writer on the CBS show, confirmed he reached a settlement more than a year after he filed a claim alleging he wasn’t given a permanent position because of diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, policies.
‘I’m happy with the way it turned out,’ Beneker told DailyMail.com exclusively on Tuesday. ‘Ultimately, I wanted to work, and clearly hiring writers based on their work was no longer the way to go after these policies were implemented.
‘I was up against writers with zero experience who were promoted ahead of me based on their gender or their sexuality. Ultimately, the goal of the suit was to bring attention to that.’
In the lawsuit filed February 2024 in California federal court, Beneker claimed he was repeatedly passed over for staff writing jobs after the studio implemented an ‘illegal policy of race and sex balancing’ that promoted the hiring of less qualified staffers from certain groups who identify as minorities, LGBTQ or women.
Beneker claimed a black LGBTQ woman ended up with the staff position.
The writer, who is white, said the growing sentiment against DEI policies could’ve factored into the decision to settle his case.
‘I filed this a more than a year ago before Trump came into office, but did that influence the outcome,’ he told DailyMail.com. ‘I think it [the DEI policies] were political to begin with, which has obviously changed since President Trump took office.
Freelance script writer Brian Beneker sued CBS and Paramount Global after he was allegedly passed over for a staff position on SEAL Team that was given to a less-qualified employee. He claimed he didn’t get a staff job because of the network’s DEI policies
‘There have been plenty of lawsuits filed after mine, so did the pressure cause it? I think it’s the combination of both.’
According to court documents obtained by DailyMail.com, both sides asked to dismiss the case with prejudice, which means neither side can refile the claim. U.S. District Judge Anne Hwang granted the dismissal.
‘On April 18, 2025, Plaintiff Brian Beneker [“Plaintiff”] and Defendants CBS Studios Inc. and Paramount Global [“Defendants” and together with Plaintiff, the “Parties”] filed a Joint Stipulation For Dismissal with Prejudice,’ the judge wrote.
‘Having considered the Parties’ Joint Stipulation for Dismissal with Prejudice, the files and records of this action, and all other matters properly submitted to the Court, and good cause appearing therefor, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the Parties’ Joint Stipulation for Dismissal with Prejudice is GRANTED.
‘This entire action is dismissed with prejudice. Each party shall bear their own attorneys’ fees and costs.’
DailyMail.com has reached out to CBS for comment.
Beneker’s case garnered national attention after American First Legal Foundation — a conservative group founded by White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller — joined Beneker’s legal team from JW Howard Attorneys.
Beneker’s case was among others represented by the Foundation, including lawsuits against other major companies like Starbucks, Target, Disney and Morgan Stanley that allegedly had discriminatory hiring practices and quotas.
White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller founded the American First Legal Foundation, which is focused on ending DEI policies based on the legal argument that they violate civil rights
Although SEAL Team was canceled at the end of 2024, Beneker was still working on the show when he filed the suit earlier that year.
Beneker, who is white, said CBS and parent company Paramount owed him $500,000 in lost wages.
He co-wrote scripts for four episodes of the show, including its season three finale ‘No Choice in Duty.’
Despite receiving praise for the quality of his work, he was repeatedly told he would be ‘next in line,’ according to court documents.
CBS instead hired others — black writers, women, including a lesbian, who often had no relevant experience or writing credits, according to the complaint.
Showrunner Spencer Hudnut said those writers were hired because they ‘checked diversity boxes that Beneker did not,’ Beneker’s attorneys claimed.
The CBS settlement comes at a time when other major companies and corporations have scaled back their DEI programs amid pressure to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive orders.
Miller has slammed DEI policies and called them ‘corporate bigotry’. He said Beneker’s case would help ‘excise the poison of race discrimination from American workplaces.’
The former show writer said he worked as a freelancer since 2017 and waited for his turn to join the crew as a staff writer.
The last straw, however, came after an assistant who allegedly had no writing credits or experience was promoted to a writing staff position over him.
Actor David Boreanaz led the CSB series, which first aired in September 2017 and was cancelled October 2024
‘I had written them three scripts but then refused to still hire me and chose to promote staff who basically were assistants who hadn’t written anything, and that became all women,’ he said. ‘There was obviously a pattern there. That was it for me.’
Beneker said despite his frustration, SEAL Team had three ‘great’ show runners and doesn’t blame anyone on the show.
‘In the end, I don’t blame or hold anything against anyone who worked on the show,’ he said. ‘They were all just following the network’s policies.’
While he is satisfied with the settlement, Beneker said he is unsure if he will receive any backlash. For now, he is a working on his own projects.
‘We will see what the fallout will be,’ he said. ‘But what I would like networks to consider is the writers’ experience and work. The writers should at least have to prove themselves on the page before you consider hiring them.
He continued, ‘Look, there are plenty of female writers who are better than me, and there are minority writers who are better. I’m not saying don’t hire them. But when you hire someone, whose only experience is that one show over someone with more experience, that’s just not right. It’s all been based on the fact that they checked one of “the [DEI] boxes.”‘
