James Zimmermann

And leading up to the audition, I coached this guy and I told him, look, I believe in you.

You've gotten so close to so many of this big jobs.

He came over to my house for free coachings and I said, I don't think the reason you're not in an orchestra now is because of systemic racism.

I think it's because of you.

I think it's because you're paranoid.

You haven't risen to the occasion yet.

You're distrustful of the people around you.

But I believe if you just calm down and do it,

do your thing in your audition, you're going to win, which he did.

He won this blind audition.

It's a huge feat, two days worth of candidates, and he won.

But during the deliberations of the audition, the conductor and the eight other panelists on the

on the board of the blind audition said we've been playing for two years with this guy and we don't think he's up to snuff so i think we should fire him and we should never tell him about this we'll declare this audition and no higher and the secret will never leave this room but i refusing to lie and refusing to expose the orchestra to a racial discrimination suit they certainly would have lost stuck up for this black oboist i got him back on track

And he ultimately was hired for the job unilaterally by management without the vote of the musicians, stamping him a DEI hire forever.

And then he retaliated against me and came up with a fake story about how I'm racially insensitive because I wouldn't bow to his agenda.

And eventually the whole thing got so ugly, it spilled over into civil court and there was a lot... All of this is out there, but...

Suffice it to say that no good deed goes unpunished.

This guy's a superstar in the business now.

He has positions in academia, boards of directors of music conservatories, summer festivals, and I'm working in big tech ever since, and I can't get another job.

That will lead to...