The former headmaster of the Epiphany School of Global Studies in North Carolina is suing the hugely successful author Nicholas Sparks for racial and religious discrimination. The school–a K-12 college prep school in Sparks’ hometown–was founded by Sparks and his wife. Saul Hillel Benjamin was hired for the 2013-14 school year, but claims he was forced to resign by Sparks. The lawsuit alleges that Sparks instructed Benjamin to stop “talking about Islam, Judaism, or any other non-Christian religion.” It also claims that Sparks and the board inhibited Benjamin’s efforts to diversify the student body and to mitigate discrimination by students based on sexual orientation.
Sparks has written 17 novels, including The Notebook, nine of which have been turned into films. His lawyer basically said this is all hogwash. A statement released by Sparks’ publicist quoted his agent of twenty years, who wrote that “as a gay, Jewish man,” he finds “these allegations completely ludicrous and offensive.”
