The head of one of the country’s largest ad agencies — busy producing diversity campaigns for Fortune 500 companies — quietly put employees through hell, a bombshell lawsuit claims.
Gustavo Martinez, the chairman and chief executive of J. Walter Thompson, used language against Jews, women and blacks that was so crude and offensive that it would have made “Mad Men” character Don Draper blush, the lawsuit alleges.
Martinez, while JWT was producing a documentary about women’s achievements called “Her Story” for the BBC, was talking to colleagues about his desire to rape certain employees “into submission,” the suit alleges.
The CEO also used in conversations with employees the phrase “f- -king Jews” and called black people “monkeys,” according to the suit, filed Thursday in Manhattan federal court by Erin Johnson, JWT’s longtime chief communications officer.
Martinez quickly denied the claims.
“I am aware of the allegations made against me by a J. Walter Thompson employee in a suit filed in New York Federal Court,” he said in a statement, and “want to assure our clients and my colleagues that there is absolutely no truth to these outlandish allegations and I am confident that this will be proven in court.”
So far, Martinez’s superiors at publicly traded WPP Group, JWT’s parent, had no comment.
Martinez joined JWT from IPG’s McCann in 2014 and became CEO in 2015.
Hours after nypost.com exclusively reported news of the suit, JWT held an “urgent meeting” to address the allegations, sources said, while lawyers huddled into the evening.
Johnson, who received much of the alleged abuse, according to the suit, is currently on paid leave from the firm.
Martinez, in front of other staff, said to Johnson, “Come here, so I can rape you in the bathroom,” then grabbed her around the neck and started laughing, the suit claims.
Later that same day, he interrupted a meeting and asked Johnson, in front of other women, which female staff member he could rape, the suit alleges.
In addition, Martinez, on multiple occasions, said that certain women should “shut up [their] mouths” and that a female executive whom he clashed with needed to be “hog-tied” and “raped into submission,” the suit alleges.
During a work lunch, the suit claims, Martinez told staffers the real reason he despised living in Westchester County was that he “hate[s] those f–king Jews.”
On another occasion, he told staffers he would avoid the “black monkeys” and the “apes” at airport customs, the suit alleges.
When Johnson complained about Martinez’s conduct to executives at JWT and WPP, Martinez retaliated by cutting her bonus and leaving her out of executive meetings, according to the suit.
Johnson said Martinez’s behavior made it virtually impossible to do her job or portray the agency in a positive light, according to the complaint. He also risked alienating clients with his steady stream of racist and sexist slurs, Johnson said.
Johnson is seeking unspecified punitive and compensatory damages.
JWT’s clients include the US Marines, Avon, Revlon, Puma and Johnson & Johnson.
None could be reached for comment on Thursday.
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