Gabrielle Union‘s career in entertainment spans two decades, but she calls her exit from America’s Got Talent one of her toughest decisions yet.

The 47-year-old actress discussed her experience on AGT at the virtual American Black Film Festival, according to USA Today, noting it was “so surprising and so heartbreaking and so frustrating and so unnecessary.”

“It [felt] like such a public flogging” she recalls, explaining that it led to her “standing in my truth and standing on the side of employee rights and knowing there’s a better way of doing business.”

Adds Union, “But that whole process was really brutal and knowing that I brought my team into that, it just sucked.”

Union was fired from America’s Got Talent in September after only one season, following her reported complaints about the allegedly racially insensitive work environment on set.

In June, she filed a harassment complaint against NBC, claiming NBC’s entertainment chief Paul Telegdy — who is currently under investigation by the network — tried to silence her reports of racism. She called NBC “a snake pit of racial offenses,” and later alleged that NBC threatened her agent.

NBC, in a statement obtained by the New York Post, denied the claims, saying, “The allegation that anyone involved in this process threatened Ms. Union is categorically untrue.  We took Ms. Union‘s concerns seriously, and engaged an outside investigator who found an overarching culture of diversity on the show.”

By George Costantino
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.