The Umbrella Academy showrunner accused of bullying in “toxic workplace” allegations

Ahead of The Umbrella Academy Season 4, showrunner Steve Blackman has been accused of toxic behavior and fostering a hostile workplace environment by multiple staffers.

The Umbrella Academy staffer complaints were represented in an HR complaint filed in January 2023. The complaint accused Blackman of having a “long history of toxic, bullying, manipulative, and retaliatory behavior.”

The claims, which Blackman denies and calls “entirely untrue”, include allegations of creating a toxic workplace, pitting staff against each other, and taking credit for the work of others. Among these claims are allegations of sexism, homophobia, and transphobia.

The allegations themselves have been said to paint a bigger picture of the television industry, contributing to the question of how much power showrunners should really have over their staff.

The Umbrella Academy’s Steve Blackman controversy explained

Steve Blackman, The Umbrella Academy’s showrunner, has been accused of multiple instances of workplace bullying and fostering a toxic environment on the Netflix show.

On June 30, 2024, Rolling Stone obtained the HR complaint filed by Umbrella Academy staffers, including writers. (Those included chose to withhold their names.)

Blackman entered a multimillion-dollar deal with Netflix, and in 2022, was placed eight on The Hollywood Reporter’s list of top showrunners in 2022. When The Umbrella Academy premiered on the streaming service, forty-five million households watched the first season, and became the third-most-watched TV series that year.

Ahead of Season 2, Blackman hired new writers, including a female writing team comprised of two people – one of whom was pregnant. After hiring the pair on a 20-week contract, the pregnant writer then informed Blackman that she’d be taking maternity leave one month in.

According to sources, a month after she returned, the writers room had their contracts extended. That included everyone except the female writing team. Blackman claimed the decision was due to budget issues and wanting a writer with more experience.

However, a human resources report in January 2023 alleged that Blackman had been heard complaining about feeling “ripped off” that he wasn’t informed about her pregnancy prior to hiring her. One writer told Rolling Stone: “He told me he fired them because one was pregnant and didn’t tell him.”

Blackman, however, maintains the process was done through Universal Content Productions’ HR department, “in full compliance with all policies and regulations.”

HR complaints against Blackman

In the 2023 HR complaint filed by a group of staffers, multiple allegations were made against Blackman. The accounts depicted Blackman as a “manipulative and chaotic showrunner”, and included claims of pitting staff members against each other, taking credit for others’ work, and making remarks that some dubbed to be “sexist, homophobic, and transphobic.”

Blackman’s behavior was also allegedly referred to in complaints made by another writer and an actress.

One support staffer revealed they were told on their first day of work that Blackman was “all about loyalty, whatever his bad ideas are.” According to sources, disagreements or suggestions to Blackman’s ideas were seen as “disloyal acts.”

“You have to tread carefully with Steve because there have been times when people stand up to him and then their status is diminished or they are taken off the show,” alleged one writer. “If you push back, he’s going to punish you for it. You’ll be doing things that are just your job, like standing up for a story point, [and] he’ll think that’s some sort of a power grab and you’ll get the brunt of it.”

Netflix

In the HR complaint, there are at least five instances detailed in which Blackman allegedly “retaliated” against his writers, and one instance with the Season 4 co-showrunner, Jesse McKeown.

McKeown claims that after siding with a writer during a payment dispute, his role was actively diminished. McKeown also claims to have personally witnessed this kind of behavior with staff, saying, “I always sort of carried that around thinking, ‘OK, that was clear retaliation, [but] he would never do that to me.’ It happened to me eventually, and a whole bunch of other people in between.”

Blackman says he has never “retaliated against anyone”, and claims “no writer was ever fired” during the four-season run of the show. “At the end of contracts, as is standard practice, a decision is made about whether to renew those contracts for an additional season,” said his spokesperson.

“Those decisions are made solely on performance and available budget, and any allegations to the contrary are false. Mr. Blackman worked with HR on all employment matters — from hiring to contract renewals to leaves.”

UCP investigated the HR complaint, but closed the matter in May 2023 after it, “could not conclude that there were improper decisions made regarding the employment.”

According to materials in the complaint, Blackman texted one staffer regarding a female writer, saying: “We have a perfect opportunity to jettison her via studio cover and replace.” The writer was kept on, but another text allegedly said: “She has no idea how close she got to being fired.”

One writer from Season 2 to Season 4, Aeryn Michelle Williams, told Rolling Stone: “There are things that I have learned since being off the show that I would say, if that was what was going on, then yes, it was definitely toxic.”

Transphobia and sexism allegations

In 2021, Netflix was dealing with the fallout of Dave Chappelle’s Netflix special, The Closer. Featuring jokes about the LGBTQ+ community and trans people, the streaming service came under immense scrutiny that even resulted in an employee-led protest.

In The Umbrella Academy writers room, staff wanted guidance on how to address the subject amid rising tensions, particular when one of the show’s stars, Elliot Page, was doing through a public transition, as well as Page’s on-screen character.

However, the writers claim that Blackman “refused to come into the room to talk about it. People in the room really wanted to talk about what it meant for our show. [Blackman] owe[d] it to everyone to come in and show them that you’re not just paying lip service to this.”

A response from Blackman said the claim was “a complete mischaracterization”, and that he’d “always worked to uplift and support trans voices on the show.”

Blackman showed public support for Page, who said at the TIME100 summit in April 2024, “If anything, [Blackman] was the one who was very insistent on immediately having it be a part of the show and supported me to be able to access the care I was hoping to get at that time.”

Netflix

However, in documents provided in the complaint, Blackman sent text messages saying: “Elliot wants to come out as trans on the show. As Ivan. Oh my f**king God. Kill me now.” Blackman later claimed that this message was referring to the immense workload that would result from the rewrite.

Blackman was also accused of making sexist comments, including remarks about the breast size of staff members, which one male staffer described as “f**king vile.” One female writer said: “I found it to be an incredibly sexist environment. If you were female, you were treated with hostility, or like you were stupid.”

Rumors of Blackman’s behavior became known. One ex-writer told Rolling Stone: “Somebody called me, whispering basically into the phone, all freaked out like, ‘Don’t take this job.’ Against my better judgement, I took the job.”

Blackman denies allegations

Despite complaints made across four season of the Netflix show, an investigation led by UCP cleared Blackman of the accusations. However, a number of people claimed to never have been contacted to discuss details of their complaints.

A spokesperson released a statement on behalf of Blackman, denying all claims. “Over six years and four seasons overseeing thousands of crew, actors, and writers, Steve Blackman led The Umbrella Academy to become a beloved series with devoted fans, enthralling stories, and a dedicated team making it all possible,” they said.

“These allegations from a handful of disgruntled employees are completely false and outrageous, and in no way reflect the collaborative, respectful, and successful working environment Mr. Blackman has cultivated.”

Although Netflix has not yet commented on the matter, UCP also released a statement. UCP maintains that it’s, “committed to providing a safe and respectful workplace. When concerns are reported, they are promptly reviewed, thoroughly investigated, and appropriate action is taken.”

The Umbrella Academy Season 4 will be released on August 8, 2024. For more, take a look at our list of all the new TV shows streaming this month. We also have a breakdown of all the best true crimes shows coming this month, too.