Six Flags Magic Mountain sued for $20 million over racial discrimination claims
A former Magic Mountain food worker who was once named employee of the month is suing Six Flags for at least $20 million, alleging Black employees were treated worse than white coworkers and that he was fired on false pretenses. Six Flags isn’t commenting.
A former Six Flags Magic Mountain employee is suing the theme park for at least $20 million, saying he faced years of racial discrimination before being fired.
To be clear up top: these are allegations in a lawsuit. Six Flags hasn’t responded to them in court, and none of it has been proven. Here’s what the complaint claims.
What the Magic Mountain lawsuit alleges
Charles Winters filed the suit in Los Angeles Superior Court on July 2, according to MyNewsLA. He’s a Black man who worked at the Valencia, California park for about three years.
Winters was hired as a food service worker in November 2022 and worked mainly at Big Belly Burger, one of the park’s restaurants. In August 2023, he was named employee of the month.
Despite that, the suit says management subjected him to “repeated and consistent discrimination” based on his race throughout his time there.
The complaint lays out specific claims. Black employees were often the ones “on their hands and knees” scrubbing floors, refrigerators, and counters, per the court documents, while white employees got the easier job of working the register.
Winters also says Black workers faced extra scrutiny over their appearance. Supervisors checked far more often that his shirt was tucked in than they did with other employees, the suit alleges. He claims Black staff were pushed harder to upsell souvenirs, too.
There’s a smaller detail in there that stings in its own way. The suit claims Black employees were told the company Christmas party was canceled when it wasn’t.
How the firing happened, according to the suit
Winters says he was fired in 2025 over false claims that he didn’t cooperate with park security guards.
His lawsuit names both Magic Mountain LLC and Six Flags Entertainment Corp. as defendants. The legal claims include discrimination, retaliation, wrongful termination, and defamation.
He’s seeking at least $20 million in compensatory damages, plus punitive damages on top of that. One outlet reported the figure as high as $25 million once punitive damages are counted.
Six Flags responds to the discrimination lawsuit
Six Flags isn’t saying much, which is standard for an active case.
A Magic Mountain representative said the park doesn’t comment on pending litigation. That’s the company’s entire public response so far, so at this stage the only detailed account of events is the one in Winters’ complaint.
Worth remembering: the plaintiff’s side is the only side that’s spoken. Six Flags will get its chance to answer in court, and lawsuits like this often look different once the other party responds.
Magic Mountain has faced discrimination claims before
This isn’t the first time the park’s name has come up in a discrimination case, and that history is part of why this one draws attention.
Back in 2004, Six Flags agreed to pay $5.6 million to settle a class-action suit brought by more than 100 people who said Magic Mountain’s anti-gang search policy led to unfair harassment of Black and Latino guests. The company didn’t admit wrongdoing in that settlement.
More recently, a separate case alleged park security wrongly targeted guests by race, falsely labeling them as gang members. That one involved guests, not employees, which makes it a different situation from Winters’ claim.
None of that older history proves anything about the current lawsuit. But it’s the backdrop this new filing lands against, and it’s why a single employee’s complaint is getting picked up well beyond Valencia.
The case is early. It was filed at the start of July, Six Flags hasn’t answered, and there’s no court date to point to yet. For now it’s one former employee’s account, headed into a process that will test it.
Article compiled with the help of the Pirates & Princesses newsroom.
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Hat Tips:
MyNewsLA (July 20, 2026), the July 2 filing date, Winters’ employment timeline, the $20 million compensatory figure, the specific legal claims, and Six Flags’ no-comment response
Yahoo/Scout (July 20, 2026), the court-document quotes on cleaning duties and appearance scrutiny, the canceled-Christmas-party claim, and the $25 million figure
Los Angeles Times via CoasterBuzz (2004), the $5.6 million class-action settlement over Magic Mountain’s search policy
Arias Sanguinetti (2025), the more recent guest-profiling case against Magic Mountain security