Keith Redmon, the Oscar-nominated producer behind “The Revenant” who was ousted from Anonymous Content in 2021, is suing the entertainment company for “breach of contract,” alleging that it engaged in a “public smear campaign” by citing false sexual misconduct accusations as reason for his termination.
The suit, filed Tuesday in Stanley Mosk Courthouse in Los Angeles County, outlines that Redmon was made a “target” following executive leadership changes at the company in 2019, when founder Steve Golin died and Anonymous acquired a majority stake in the Laurene Powell Jobs-founded LLC Emerson Collective. According to Redmon, more than 70 Golin-era executives were discharged or replaced following his death. The suit also alleges that some employees quit to “escape” new leadership’s “mismanagement” and “abusive behavior.”
“With Anonymous’ new top-up focus on profits and credits, a deterioration of its creative standards and a mass exodus of talent from the Company soon followed,” the documents read. “Vindictive retaliation awaited those who tried to keep the Company on track, with the most severe and outrageous treatment directed at Plaintiff Keith Redmon.”
“The Midnight Sky” producer also denied all allegations of “multiple acts of nonconsensual physical sexual misconduct,” which the suit claims was a fabrication to justify his wrongful ousting following open disagreements with senior leadership, including CEO Dawn Olmstead.
The lawsuit continues, “Anonymous concocted a fabricated basis for terminating Redmon ‘for cause’ (there was no ‘cause’), refused to honor the terms of Redmon’s employment agreement and other obligations the Company owed to him, and ultimately resorted to a public smear campaign designed to falsely brand Redmon in the press as a perpetrator of multiple acts of nonconsensual physical sexual misconduct, none of which is true,” adding that Redmon was made a “target” by “voicing his concerns.”
As a result of his claims, Redmon alleges he’s owed “millions of dollars” in compensation, as well as a “significant profit participation interest” from the company’s 25% stake in the Emmy-winning sitcom “Schitt’s Creek.” Pursuant to an oral agreement made with Golin on behalf of the company, Redmon claims he’s also owed episodic fees in the amount of $2,500 per episode.
Anonymous did not immediately respond Wednesday to a request from TheWrap for comment about the lawsuit.
Anonymous initially did not offer public comment following Redmond’s firing in mid-2021 aside from a brief internal memo. In a November story on the media startup Puck, the company issued a statement saying that the termination was due to a “troubling pattern of unacceptable behavior” and that a “comprehensive investigation” had uncovered multiple instances of physical sexual misconduct.
While the producer does not deny he had “consensual dalliances” a decade ago, as well as an instance of infidelity that he continues to live with, his actions “did not constitute harassment or any other form of sexual misconduct,” according to the documents.