John Lowe filed a lawsuit on Wednesday accusing CBS Television Studios and three people tied to Matlock of racism, sexual harassment and retaliation during his work on the show. The complaint says he was on the production from October 2023 to July 2025 and was fired two weeks after reporting an alleged incident involving showrunner Jennie Snyder Urman.

Lowe is the person at the center of the case, and his filing tries to turn a private workplace dispute into a public test of what the studio knew and when. CBS Studios responded that it investigated the allegations and could not find support for them, setting up a direct clash between a former writer’s account and the company’s internal review.

In the complaint, Lowe says coworkers were subjected to racially stereotyped comments about his body and genitalia, language he says created a hostile work environment. He also says Urman referred to Juneteenth as “Coonteenth,” and that he reported the alleged remark two weeks before his termination. That timing matters because the filing ties his firing to the complaint he says he made, not to any creative disagreement.

The suit goes further, describing what Lowe says happened around a dog in the writers’ room. He says Urman brought the dog in because her children did not like the aesthetic of the dog’s black color, then coerced him into caring for it for nearly a year while other staff were present. Lowe says the arrangement was racially motivated and meant to single him out for humiliation based on his race, not for any creative or production reason.

Lowe also accuses executive producer Nicki Renna of making remarks about Black cast member Eme Ikwuakor, including saying he “can barely read.” He says Renna later called him late at night and said she was in bed wearing only her underwear. Those allegations broaden the case beyond one remark or one meeting; they describe conduct that, if proven, would show a pattern of conduct inside a writers’ room rather than an isolated clash.

CBS Studios says it reached the opposite conclusion. A spokesperson said the company is committed to a safe and respectful environment and takes workplace complaints seriously, but added that “a thorough investigation was completed, and we were unable to find support for his allegations.” The studio also said it looks forward to vigorously defending the lawsuit. That leaves the dispute resting on what evidence can be tested in court, not on the studio’s internal finding.

The filing arrives three months after David Del Rio filed an arbitration claim against CBS Studios over his firing last fall, adding another legal fight around the same production. Lowe’s attorney, Ron Zambrano, said there is no excuse for what he called blatant racism and harassment and argued that Lowe deserved dignity and respect in the workplace. For now, the lawsuit puts Matlock under scrutiny for what happened behind the scenes, and the next answer will come from the evidence each side can actually prove.