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The New York financial management firm that represents Rihanna is facing a hefty lawsuit for racist and sexists remarks. Robert Solomon, a former marketing head for Flynn Family Office, claims that the company fired him after he spoke up against inappropriate comments made by high-level executives. Solomon filed a wrongful termination suit against the firm.
In court documents, Solomon names one of the company’s partners, Alan Kufeld, as having repeatedly made lewd and racist comments about women, including his female employees and clients.
According to Solomon, Kufeld once commented that Rihanna was “hot” because she was “not too dark.” Kufeld, who often commented on the attractiveness of the firm’s female entertainment clients, proceeded into a “monologue on what Caribbean nationalities were the most attractive based on skin tone” and discussed “sex tourism and the relative hotness of Asian women,” following the Rihanna comment, court documents state.
On another occasion, the FFO executive conversed with the company’s founder and CEO Rick Flynn, allegedly stating that a former assistant “lost points in his eyes because she was too dark.”
The 47-year-old was reportedly very open in his objectification of female employees, leading one of them to quit. Kufeld’s response to the woman’s departure was simply “F–k her.” Solomon attributes the obscene behavior of FFO’s executives to “locker room mentality,” the New York Post reports.
“It’s ironic and disturbing that an organization that sought high-profile women as clients would have such a sexist and misogynistic corporate culture,” Solomon’s lawyer, Walker Harman, told the NY Post.
The company’s client list includes other high-profile stars like Katie Holmes, Tory Burch, Kelly Ripa and Ellen Barkin, but according to Flynn, those clients should not be quick to believe Solomon’s claims.
“We at FFO have always championed the rights of women and minorities, particularly in the workplace,” he said in a statement. “The complaint filed today is without merit, and we intend to defend vigorously against these baseless claims.”
This isn’t the first time a financial firm representing Rihanna has gotten into legal trouble. In 2012, the Bajan singer sued her former financial management company for giving her poor investment advice that caused her to lose $9 million. Her single “B–ch Better Have My Money” is inspired by that experience.
