Late-night talk show host Tavis Smiley promised in December to fight back after his Tavis Smiley Show was suspended by PBS amid sexual misconduct allegations.

This week Smiley fought back, filing a lawsuit against PBS citing racial bias.

Just weeks after PBS ended Charlie Rose’s interview show following an investigation into claims of sexual harassment, the public broadcaster suspended Smiley.

The Smiley investigation included interviews of Smiley and 10 witnesses — mostly former employees, men and women of different races and employment levels in Smiley’s organization. In December, PBS said it “uncovered multiple, credible allegations of conduct that is inconsistent with the values and standards of PBS.”

Smiley filed a lawsuit against PBS on Tuesday claiming breach of contract and damage to his company, TS Media Inc. Smiley said that PBS used the sexual allegations as “a pretext to finally rid themselves of Mr. Smiley, who was not the ‘team player’ type of African American personality PBS preferred to have hosting a nightly national news and public affairs program.”

Since his talk show was dropped by PBS, Smiley has been talking almost incessantly about it, Washington Post reported. He has given multiple interviews professing his innocence and claims he was publicly shamed, a victim of a trumped-up investigation and a post-Harvey Weinstein rush to judgment.

Tavis Smiley pushes back against allegations of sexual misconduct: “I have never groped, I have never coerced, I have never exposed myself inappropriately…I celebrate and applaud these women who’ve had the courage to come out and tell their truth.” pic.twitter.com/VNuxgQczrS

— Good Morning America (@GMA) December 18, 2017

What Tavis is saying makes sense to me. And the fact that a woman or man can make an allegation against you & you don't have the opportunity to face ur accuser or defend against allegations is a very slippery slope we're crossing into..

— Own Your Masters (@ThaArchitect) December 18, 2017

Where is Cornel West at? What's his take Tavis? pic.twitter.com/f4oWEGrHE6

— Beware, Thanos is coming. (@JerrellZod) December 18, 2017

He's busy attacking Ta Nehisi Coates smh

— stanley jenkins jr. (@kuntaoist) December 18, 2017

Tavis Smiley is admitting to engaging in "consensual" affairs with MULTIPLE employees who worked for him, including one who still works there! That's a boss who is unprofessional and unethical, taking advantage of his position of power. Good for PBS for upholding some standards.

— s. (@babyinaheadlock) December 18, 2017

https://twitter.com/TravMarquee/status/943065193604673536

Because HE forced his employees to sign non-disclosure agreements! The guy created a brothel for himself. That's a toxic work environment that HE himself created – who PBS rightfully wants nothing to do with.

— s. (@babyinaheadlock) December 18, 2017

PBS was a hostile working environment for “the only nightly television show featuring a person of color as the host,” Smiley’s lawsuit alleges.

A PBS spokesperson dismissed the suit as “meritless” and “yet another example of Smiley’s attempts to distract the public from his pattern of sexual misconduct in the workplace,” Deadline reported:

“Over the years, PBS has acted in a racially hostile manner,” the suit says. “For example, PBS harassed Mr. Smiley about inviting controversial African American figures on to his show. However, when Mr. Smiley brought equally controversial (if not more so) white figures, PBS remained silent. This was not an isolated incident but happened multiple times during the fourteen years PBS and TSM were in business together.”

Smiley hosted the Los Angeles-produced PBS late-night show for nearly 14 years. He became famous in the mid-1990s as the host of “BET Tonight,” an evening public affairs program on the African American-oriented cable channel. His misogyny was “barely camouflaged,” a witness said in a Variety report:

In a February piece in the Observer, Jacques Hyzagi, a former producer on Smiley’s television show, wrote that Smiley’s ‘misogyny is always creeping around, barely camouflaged by Midwestern good manners.’ Hyzagi described Smiley picking up a woman at the Orlando airport and bringing her along on a reporting trip as a ‘fuck buddy’; alleged that Smiley had a romantic relationship with another producer; and quoted Smiley denigrating PBS executives.”

Smiley has been controversial for his criticism of former U.S. President Barack Obama. He expressed pessimism about the first Black president’s legacy on racial issues. Black Americans lost ground in every major economic category in the era of Obama, Smiley said.

However, Smiley was conspicuously silent when Bill Cosby was accused of rape, according to a 2014 Prospect.org report:

“Why hasn’t Tavis Smiley, whose withering criticism of President Barack Obama has been relentless, taken Cosby (Bill Cosby was accused of raping 15 women) to task?  Smiley has made it clear black politicians and public figures should be held accountable.”

Smiley made some enemies along the way as his media career took off, but dating subordinates — while not smart — “isn’t unheard of in the American workplace,” said syndicated columnist Ruben Navarrette in a December report for the Washington Post Writers Group.

Navarette has known Smiley for 23 years in a friendship that started when they co-hosted a Los Angeles radio show in their 20s. “Smiley went on to build a media empire and provide a powerful voice for black America,” Navarette wrote.

The real reason Smiley was let go? “It’s because he was rumored to ‘hate’ some of the folks at PBS,” Navarette wrote:

Hyzagi recalled that Smiley once told him: ‘I hate the people who run PBS. I hate Beth Hoppe, Mary Nelson, Mishi Margaret Ebrahim. Every single one of them and they hate me too.’

Smiley accuses PBS of conducting audits of his books, while not auditing the books of shows that are managed by white people, Variety reported:

“PBS’s audits are based on the insulting stereotypical premise that an African American owned business will have shoddy accounting records,” the suit alleges.

Some PBS employees claimed that Smiley was verbally abusive, and some were afraid that employment decisions were affected by Smiley’s relationships.

The lawsuit, whose plaintiffs also include Smiley’s TS Media Inc. and Tavis Smiley Presents, demands a jury trial, Deadline reported.