Spotify Sued For Racial Discrimination By Black Former Sales Director

A former Spotify executive has alleged the company engaged in racial discrimination, retaliation, and unequal treatment in a new federal lawsuit.

A former Spotify sales executive has filed a lawsuit against the streaming company, alleging racial discrimination, retaliation, and systemic mistreatment of Black employees. The suit was filed Thursday, December 18, in Manhattan federal court by Aisha Mootry, who previously worked as a director of sales at Spotify.

According to the complaint, Mootry claims the company “systematically disadvantaged” Black employees and subjected them to what her attorneys describe as a sustained pattern of unequal treatment. She alleges that Spotify “intentionally discriminated” against her throughout her three-year tenure, holding her to higher standards than her non-Black peers while failing to provide comparable resources and institutional support.

Mootry says she was hired in 2020 as a contractor and transitioned to a full-time role in 2021. During her time with the company, she says she consistently exceeded expectations, including leading her team to generate more than $42 million in revenue in 2023, which she says was 36 percent above her assigned target. Despite those results, she alleges that she was placed at a disadvantage from the outset.

In the lawsuit, Mootry states that she was one of only three Black employees in Spotify’s Chicago office and that she was given a weaker sales portfolio, an understaffed team, and performance expectations that were higher than those applied to her colleagues. She also claims Spotify failed to address discriminatory behavior by coworkers and allowed harmful stereotypes to persist in the workplace.

“Spotify…condoned an atmosphere where colleagues circulated race-based and stereotypical allegations that Ms. Mootry was difficult to work, perpetuating the ‘angry Black woman’ stereotype,” her attorneys write.

“Spotify’s decision to systematically disadvantage Ms. Mootry and other Black employees, particularly Black women in leadership, by setting them up for failure and then blaming them for the consequences of this unequal treatment is consistent with its pattern of mistreatment and retaliation,” her attorneys have written.

Mootry further alleges that some of the employees reporting to her engaged in “openly insubordinate” behavior, including excluding her from key client meetings. She also says she was left out of leadership events and team dinners, contributing to an environment where she and other Black employees were treated as though they were “invisible.”

“Spotify disregarded, silenced, and overlooked Black employees,” the lawsuit states. “This exclusion was not incidental — it was deliberate, persistent, and deeply isolating.”

According to the filing, Mootry raised concerns with human resources on multiple occasions, but says her complaints were ignored or dismissed. In one meeting, she claims she was told she “should consider finding another job.” She was terminated in January for what she alleges were “pretextual reasons,” including being told “it just wasn’t working.”

“Spotify’s termination of Ms. Mootry’s employment was the culmination of its discriminatory treatment and the final act in a years-long effort to push her out of the company,” her lawyers write.

Spotify has denied the allegations. In a statement, a company spokesperson said, “We strongly disagree with these allegations. Spotify is committed to a workplace where everyone is treated fairly and with respect.”

Mootry’s lawsuit accuses Spotify of violating federal, New York state, and New York City civil rights laws, citing both discrimination and retaliation tied to her firing.