Faruq “Peter” Wells (Dan Brinzac)
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A Native American NBC studio technician was tormented about his ethnicity by cruel colleagues, who strung up an Indian doll on a noose and called it his “long-lost daughter,” he claims in a lawsuit.
Faruq “Peter” Wells — who worked on the “Today” show, “Dr. Oz” and “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” — endured the abuse after returning from a vacation and eventually quit his job when NBC’s Human Resources Department told him to ignore the problem, the court papers charge.
The worst indignity came when one co-worker pelted him with the doll and barked, “Here’s your long-lost daughter!” the papers say.
Wells said his horror story began on June 14, 2009 — within an hour of returning from an Arizona vacation to his desk at the Peacock Network.
Colleague Rich Citelli told him to look over at the desk of co-worker Evelyn Cordero — and he saw a “dark-skinned female doll adorned in traditional Native American clothing,” says the suit, which will be filed in Manhattan Supreme Court today.
Citelli then showed him despicable cellphone images of the doll strung up in Christmas lights with a Post-it note that read, “Baby Wells,” the documents allege.
“I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I was extremely upset. I felt I was made to be a laughingstock,” Wells told The Post.
“I went right to my supervisors and showed them the picture and said, ‘What is this?’ Wells said. “One said to me, ‘I told her not to put it up.’ I asked, ‘Who is she?’ He said, ‘Evelyn [Cordero].’ I was shocked because I didn’t expect that from her,” Wells said.
Hours later, the suit claims, a still-reeling Wells became the butt of sleazy jokes.
“Hey, Pete, do you have any illegitimate children?” Cordero asked, the court papers say.
Cordero then put the doll on his workspace and said, “Look, it’s got your DNA, skin color and you both have the same hair. It’s braided just like yours,” the suit charges.
Wells’ lawyer, Matthew Blit, said, “They are very creative racists. Unfortunately, I’ve seen some horrific cases, and this is definitely one of them.”
Wells went to his union rep the next day and was told of two prior racially tinged incidents — slurs and drawings scribbled on cafeteria trays and nooses found hanging in the former Conan O’Brien studio, court papers say.
He then explained the incident to HR, which only made things worse, he claims.
Two days later, he found a block of fake cheese in the common area signifying that he was “a rat,” according to the suit.
“[HR] called me after a week and told me to return to work and not talk about what happened,” Wells said.
He stayed away during an investigation only to be told about six weeks later that no action was taken, according to the suit. Fed up, he quit on Aug. 31, 2009, after three years at NBC.
Citelli declined to comment, efforts to reach Cordero were unsuccessful.
An NBC Universal said in a statement:
We take all allegations of harassment and discrimination seriously. At the time of the 2009 incident, the company conducted a thorough and independent investigation and disciplined employees who had behaved inappropriately. The EEOC reviewed Wells’ complaint and NBCUniversal’s response and declined to take any further action. We believe that NBCUniversal took appropriate actions in 2009 and that the lawsuit is without merit.