Black former Kennedy Center employee sues, alleging racial discrimination and retaliation

The former subscriptions office employee accuses the Kennedy Center of discrimination, retaliation and creating a hostile work environment.

Autumn Metcalf, a queer Black former Kennedy Center employee, has sued the Washington arts institution, alleging managers tracked her bathroom breaks, singled her out because of her race and retaliated after she complained. The filing comes amid other controversies at the venue, including Rep. Joyce Beatty’s lawsuit and cancellations by Black artists following changes to its leadership.

The complaint, filed Oct. 27 in federal court in Washington, D.C., accuses the Kennedy Center of discrimination, retaliation and a hostile work environment, Forbes reported Wednesday. Metcalf worked in its subscriptions office from 2022 until her resignation in December 2025.

Metcalf says supervisors scrutinized her movements more closely than those of white coworkers. They allegedly ordered her to remove a whiteboard used for jokes and quotations, accused her of being away from her desk too long and began tracking the time she spent in restrooms. She described the monitoring as a “humiliating intrusion.”

Her complaint describes an October 2025 incident in which senior manager Stephanie Atkinson allegedly referred to the assistants of then-interim Kennedy Center leader Richard Grenell as his “twinks.” Metcalf, who identifies as queer, considered the remark homophobic and offensive.

On Nov. 18, Metcalf alleges, sales and ticketing director Derek Younger confronted her and suspended her without pay after an exchange she considered threatening. When she returned two days later, managers handed her another suspension, this time for two weeks, over alleged attendance and timekeeping problems.

Metcalf resigned Dec. 4, 2025, saying the working conditions had become intolerable. In the lawsuit, she also accuses the Kennedy Center’s associate general counsel, Laura Hagan, of dismissing discrimination concerns and interfering with efforts to pursue an equal employment opportunity complaint.

The complaint cites coworkers who questioned her treatment. One told the union that management appeared unusually focused on her, while another described the confrontation leading to her suspension as a disproportionate escalation. These accounts are included in Metcalf’s allegations and have not been tested in court.

Autumn Metcalf is seeking back pay, compensation for alleged harm and removal of disciplinary records, among other relief. Forbes said it contacted the Kennedy Center for comment. No response was included in its report. The allegations remain unproven, and the court has not ruled on them.