Actor Faizon Love's ongoing Couples Retreat lawsuit alleges his co-star Vince Vaughn tried to dissuade him from speaking out about the movie's whitewashed poster. The 2009 comedy follows four couples as they embark on a tropical vacation, only to find themselves in the middle of couples' counseling. In addition to Love and Vaughn, Couples Retreat starred Malin Ackerman, Jason Bateman, Kristen Bell, Jon Favreau, Kristin Davis, and Kali Hawk. Though Couples Retreat failed to impress critics, it became a hit at the box office, particularly in international markets. However, recent days have cast an unfavorable light over Couples Retreat as its whitewashed poster gets new attention.
Days ago, Love sued Universal over Couples Retreat's international poster, which saw Love and his love interest Hawk removed from the cast. While the domestic poster showcased all four main couples, Love and Hawk were the only two cast members erased from Couples Retreat's international promotion. As Love and Hawk were also the movie's only couple of color, it was very clearly an example of Hollywood whitewashing. At the time of Couples Retreat's release, Love opted to not pursue legal action because Universal told him they would cease using the racist poster and would find new opportunities for him. However, as that never came to pass, Love is now mounting a lawsuit against the studio.
In the 45-page suit filed in the Los Angeles Supreme Court (via Deadline), Love alleges Vaughn got involved with those initial talks at Universal and tried to downplay the incident. Adam Fogelson, Universal's Chairman at the time, and Vaughn both committed to putting Love in a new project, which ultimately never came to pass. Additionally, Vaughn allegedly told Love that pursuing the matter about the poster would likely harm his career. The full statement reads:
In fact, Vaughn joined that phone call, and he and Fogelson discussed new potential projects for Mr. Love during the call. The two committed to putting Mr. Love on a TV show with Vaughn. Stuber also guaranteed Mr. Love he would be cast in future productions of films he produced for Universal Studios, if he did not pursue the issue publicly or legally regarding his removal from the one sheet for the movie. Vaughn apparently went so far as to tell Mr. Love that making a big deal about his removal from the poster would not be good for his career at that time, a statement to which Fogelson did not object.
Even before this additional piece came to light, there was little doubt that Universal was in the wrong for whitewashing and continuing to use such a blatantly racist Couples Retreat poster. However, it does not help that, as Love states, the studio had promised to aid Love in the future and did not. Vaughn's involvement is especially tricky. One could argue the actor was merely trying to look out for Love, but if he truly supported Love, Vaughn should've helped him instead of hindering him. There's no saying what would've happened if Vaughn had backed Love, but there's a good chance Love would've seen a far better result.
As Love has just issued this suit, it remains to be seen what will happen. Right now, it looks like Love has the evidence on his side, but it's all in the hands of the court. Hopefully, Love will get the resolution he hopes for, as this matter has seemingly caused him much frustration. Love was a key member of the Couples Retreat ensemble, and he deserves to be treated as such going forward.
Source: Deadline
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