FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

OCTOBER 8, 2000

BLACK PROMOTERS & CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER, JOSEPH LOWERY,

TURN UP HEAT ON TALENT AGENCIES

Civil Demonstration Planned at

Creative Artists Agency (CAA) on Tuesday, 10/10

The Black Promoters of America, led by veteran civil rights leader, Rev. Joseph Lowery, will intensify their protests against the discrimination within the talent agency industry with a demonstration at the headquarters of Creative Artists Agency (CAA) at 9830 Wilshire Blvd. in Beverly Hills, CA on Tuesday Oct 10. Participants joining the demonstration, beginning 12:30 pm, include members of several civil rights groups, clergymen, student activists, and Danny Bakewell of the Brotherhood Crusade.

According to Lowery, co-founder with Martin Luther King, Jr. of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), “These agencies have systematically excluded Black Promoters from handling concerts with any White artists as well as Black artists who become superstars. This,” he continues, “ is one of the last bastions of segregation in the entertainment industry and it severely restricts economic opportunities for Black entrepreneurs.”

The Black Promoters Association has filed a $170 million lawsuit against CAA, William Morris Agency, and several other agencies charging racial discrimination and anti-trust law violations. Richard Lovett, current head of CAA, boasts that he is a member of the board of the National Urban League and denies that his agency discriminates against anyone. “ However,” said Leonard Rowe, head of the Black Promoters Association, “he has never used a Black promoter in a concert with a White artist or a Black superstar. Nor has Lovett ever met with a

spokesperson for the association,” he continued.

The Rev. Joseph Lowery of Atlanta, president emeritus of the SCLC, and chairman of the Black Leadership Forum, a consortium of all major national Black advocacy groups, including, SCLC, NAACP, and the Urban League, says that the group may escalate the level of the demonstrations to civil disobedience on Tuesday.