Bassett v. Gray Media Group

── Bassett v. Gray Media Group ── Court: Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Date: May 22, 2026 Category: Civil Rights Case: 25-60278 Document: 79-1 Page: 1 Date Filed: 05/22/2026 United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals ____________ Fifth Circuit FILED No. 25-60278 May 22, 2026 ____________ Lyle W. Cayce Clerk Barbie Bassett, Plaintiff—Appellant, versus Gray Media Group, Incorporated, doing business as WLBT- TV, Defendant—Appellee. ______________________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi USDC No. 3:23-CV-3154 ______________________________ Before Clement, Douglas, and Ramirez, Circuit Judges. Per Curiam: * Barbie Bassett appeals a summary judgment in favor of Gray Media Group, Inc. d/b/a WLBT-TV (WLBT), on her claim that it discriminated against her based on race by terminating her employment as a news anchor for twice using language on air that it deemed racially offensive and about which viewers and co-workers complained. We AFFIRM. _____________________ * This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5. Case: 25-60278 Document: 79-1 Page: 2 Date Filed: 05/22/2026 No. 25-60278 I A In 1999, Bassett started working at a television news station in Jackson, Mississippi—WLBT. From October 2021 until her termination in 2023, she was a morning news anchor and co-host for WLBT’s “Today at 11” show. The position required her to “not engage in any conduct that could reflect negatively on [WLBT] or its reputation in the community.” Bassett also agreed not to “commit any act or become involved in any situation or occurrence tending to degrade [her] in the mind of the public or which may bring [Bassett] into public disrepute, contempt, scandal or ridicule, or tend to shock, insult or offend the community or which may reflect unfavorably on” her or WLBT. While engaging in live, on-air dialogue on October 28, 2022, Bassett, who is White, referred to a Black reporter’s grandmother as “grand m*mmy.” WLBT received numerous viewer complaints regarding Bassett’s use of the term. Several WLBT employees also expressed offense. On November 10, 2022, WLBT’s news director, Charles Jones, issued Bassett a written warning stating that Bassett’s comment violated WLBT’s “unlawful harassment – hostile work environment” policy because “[t]he term . . . is a negative depiction used during slavery to refer to an African American Grandmother,” and “[t]he Comment was insensitive and inappropriate during the newscast.” The warning also stated that further violations could lead to additional disciplinary action, including termination. Less than six months later, while again engaging in on-air dialogue with co-anchors following a report about rap artist Snoop Dogg on March 8, 2023, Bassett used a phrase attributed to him—“fo shizzle, my n**zle” (the “Phrase”). When the show went to commercial break, a Black co-anchor said to Bassett: “I can’t believe you just said the N word on live TV.” Bassett 2  Case: 25-60278 Document: 79-1 Page: 3 Date Filed: 05/22/2026 No. 25-60278 responded that the Phrase meant “for real, my