This comedian is being sued for her ‘War On Men’ — after hosting a ‘Girls Night’ show

When George St. George and a friend tried to attend Iliza Shlesinger’s comedy show in November, an employee at the theatre said the California man and his companion would have to sit in the back of the theatre.

It wasn’t because they were late, a lawsuit from St. George alleges, and both had already purchased tickets for the show online.

Instead, it was because St. George and his friend are men, and Shlesinger’s show was billed as “Girls Night In With Iliza — No Boys Allowed.”

The theatre had not yet started seating guests, so the two men decided to go grab some food at a nearby restaurant. But when they came back, that same employee told St. George that “Iliza” and The Coronet Theatre decided they could not attend that night’s show, instead offering to give them a refund.

Again, it was because the duo are men, according to the lawsuit. So that’s why St. George is suing, saying that it was “akin to the Montgomery City Lines bus company in Montgomery, Alabama circa 1955,” when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat for a white passenger.

The crux of St. George’s argument rests on a 1985 California Supreme Court Ruling, which found that “ladies nights” violate the Unruh Civil Rights Act. That act says people in the state are “free and equal,” regardless of gender, sex, race, religion and sexual orientation, among other identities.

Shlesinger “denied consumers the equal accommodations, advantages, facilities privileges and services they were entitled to” by denying St. George and his friend solely because their gender, the lawsuit argues. It also called the women-only show a sign of Shlesinger’s “War On Men.”

Under the Unruh Act, anyone who “makes any discrimination” that violates the law could pay up to $4,000 in damages and other attorney fees.

But this isn’t the first lawsuit targeting women-specific events filed by St. George, who compared “ladies nights” to “heterosexual nights” in his complaint against Shlesinger. According to Variety, he has filed suits in the past about “ladies nights” at different establishments.

And his lawyer for the case, Alfred Rava, also has experience with such cases — telling CNN he’s filed 150 sex discrimination suits in just the past twelve years.

“As a result of all of my lawsuits, the defendants began to treat female and male consumers equally,” he wrote in an email to CNN, adding that, “I do not trust you will quote me correctly or in the proper context given your leftwing, pro-female, anti-male bias.”

The damages St. George is suing for are still unspecified, and Shlesinger has not replied to a request for comment from multiple outlets.

This story was originally published December 28, 2017 at 10:28 AM with the headline "This comedian is being sued for her ‘War On Men’ — after hosting a ‘Girls Night’ show."