this is "nightline." tonight, call for change. mcdonald's under fire. stunning complaints of sexual harassment. the powerless and the powerful speaking out. >> my hope is that the more of us that tell our story, we will actually diminish the occurrence of this happening. >> and allegations of retaliation. >> i felt like all my hard work and everything i had put into it was taken away like that. plus. >> i didn't have no people out there marching and protesting to get me my job. >> no, his uncle got it for him. >> past is present. the star-studded reboot of two iconic shows. "all in the family" and "the jeffersons."

groundbreaking series that changed the face of comedy then and now. >> and when you zip them up, include your mouth! >> and introduced to a new generation. "movin' on up." but first here the "nightline" five. there are roadside attractions.

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calling out mcdonald's. more than two dozen lawsuits and complaints of sexual harassment in the workplace. some calling it retaliation. here's linsey davis. >> reporter: she was just 16, working as a cashier at an mcdonald's in tucson, but brittany says that first job turned into a nightmare when an older employee preyed on her. >> when i started to see that his intentions were something other than just dropping me off at work, it became more complicated. >> reporter: brittany then became one of thousands of women across the country who say they were sexually harassed on the job. >> i felt like all my hard work and everything i had put into it was taken away like that. it was horrible. >> reporter: today brittany, who is now 19 years old is on the front lines of a fight against

workplace harassment. >> for me, it was the worst experience i've ever had. >> we've got your back! >> but i have friends other places, other fast food restaurants where they've gone through the same thing as mine or worse. >> reporter: she joined a chorus of women linked arm in arm who say they will no longer be silenced. among them, the host of bravo's "t "top chef." today the labor group fight for 15, along with the aclu and time's up legal defense fund, created to expand the #me too move the past hollywood announced these cases. >> 25 new charges and lawsuits against mcdonald's. >> reporter: this chapter in the me too movement is taking on an iconic corporation, accusing it of sexual harassment, gender-based discrimination and retaliation that they say reflects the brutal reality

facing low-wage workers. >> it's time to sit down with the workers who helped make $6 billion in profits, so we so wee stop harassment once and for all. >> what this latest round of cases represents is that women who previously were voiceless, invisible, did the work that a lot of us took for granted of making our food, those women and their experiences have come out of the shadows. >> reporter: brittany's story begins in 2016, when she first took that job at mcdonald's to help support her family. >> i was one of the main providers for a family of six. >> reporter: but she says an older manager repeatedly subjected her to unwanted attention, starting with text messages about how she dressed. >> and then it went from there to my family didn't have a car at the time, and he had offered to take me home after work. which i accepted. because i had no other way home at the time, and i needed the

money from the job. so, from there, it just became more personal. >> reporter: in a complaint brittany filed with the equal employment opportunity commission she alleges that during that car ride he flirted with her in a suggestive manner and once tried to kiss her. on another occasion, she alleges he touched her ponytail and her neck. >> it got worse and it continued, i felt like i had to let my parents know. >> reporter: she says her parents took action, reporting his behavior to other managers. then she says she was retaliated against. >> my hours had been cut. they would place me oni on undesirable shifts. >> reporter: for padma, it is personal. >> i wanted to stand in solidarity, shoulder to shoulder with these women. >> reporter: she began her career as a model and actress in europe. >> this season we are dreaming big. >> reporter: today the host of "top chef." but after 32 years of living with a painful secret, she

revealed in the "new york times" that she was raped by an older boyfriend when she was just 16, writing the next thing i remember is waking up to a very sharp stabbing pain, like a knife blade between my legs. he was on top of me. >> my hope is that the more of us who tell our story, we will actually diminish the occurrence of this happening. >> reporter: sexual harassment allegations against mcdonald's are nothing new. back in 2012, the eeoc won a million dollars settlement against a wisconsin franchisee on complaints that began in 2006. and last september, hundreds of workers went on strike, walking off the job in protest. womens advocates place the responsibility squarely in mcdonald's hands, throughout its web of locations, even though 90% are owned independently. >> they have the power over their franchises to control the policies that are put in place,

then how those policies are implemented. >> reporter: in a written response, mcdonald's stated it rolled out new training program last fall to prevent harassment and discrimination for all restaurant managers and strengthening their policy on interactive training, they have a hotline and listening to employees across the system, mcdonald's is sending a clear message that we are committed to creating and sustaining a culture of trust where employees feel safe, valued and respected. the restaurant industry is notorious for allegations like these. a 2016 survey found that 40% of women in the fast food industry had faced workplace sexual harassment. and of them, more than one in five reported retaliation after raising the issue with their employer. >> the women who are at the center of these charges make $8, $9, $10 an hour. a lot of these folks are supporting kids and losing a job because they're experiencing

retaliation means losing support for their families, losing rent, losing their homes. >> i was a lot tanner back then. >> reporter: madison, whose last name we are withholding was only 16 years old when she started working at an ihop franchise in illinois. she spoke about two of her managers' lewd behavior with diane sawyer last year. >> they would come up behind me and just rub up against me. they're so confident, you know. no one was ever going to say anything. >> reporter: she says one of them asked her to run a personal errand with him before the shift started. the teenager got in the car. >> what happened? >> he approached the car, and he just unbuckled his belt and unzipped his pants and he, he just pulled out his penis, and it was already erect. it was, like he was, i don't know.

it was just ready. and then he grabbed the back of my head and pushed my head down and i, he just kept pushing my head up and down, and he said, well, it's not worth it if you're not enjoying it. >> reporter: afterwards, she says the franchise owner and those two managers warned the young girl she should say nothing, not only to protect her job but to protect their families. she continued to work there for one more year. >> i feel so naïve for even going in the car to begin with. and i think i blamed myself for a long time. >> reporter: madison filed a lawsuit against the franchise and the ihop corporation. they settled and paid an undisclosed sum and pledged to

implement new sexual harassment policies. >> if no one does anything about it they will continue getting away with it. >> in july i'll be joining the air force. i found my voice in this fight and will continue speaking out until mcdonald's takes our issues seriously, addresses them and makes a change. thank you. >> reporter: for "nightline," linsey davis in new york. up next shehere, the reboot two of america's most beloved sitcoms. (announcer) people with type 2 diabetes are excited about the potential of once-weekly ozempic®. in a study with ozempic®, a majority of adults lowered their blood sugar and reached an a1c of less than seven and maintained it. oh! under seven? and you may lose weight. in the same one-year study, adults lost on average up to 12 pounds. oh! up to 12 pounds? a two-year study showed

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back now with the "jeffersons" and "all in the family". two ground breaking sitcoms returning to the screen. and tonight an inside look at the rebooting of two legendary shows which confronted hot-button issues straight on. >> archie! >> george! >> i love "all in the family". i love "the jeffersons". these are shows i watched over and over again as a kid. i love the shows in their original form. so i thought, why not do it in the way they've been doing these live musicals. >> reporter: in a special abc event, the ground breaks series "all in the family" and "the jeffersons" will be brought to light in front of a live audience. >> we have jamie foxx and

sikes. anthony anderson as uncle henry. ellie kemper is gloria. >> all in the family premiered in january of 1971. >> now i suppose you're going to tell me the black man has the same opportunity in this country as you? >> he had more, he had more. i didn't have people marching and protesting to get me my job. >> no, his uncle got it for him. >> it was made to make people uncomfortable. race, religion, politics is never an easy conversation to have. >> the theme song is fascinating, because it really represents archie's view. ♪ those were the days >> you got archie bunker saying "we want the good old days". girls were girls and men were men. didn't need no welfare state, everybody pulled his weight.

that's conservatism. >> it was the biggest television show in america. you're talking about an audience of 60 million people every time they do a show. >> part of what's so revolutionary is that they're just families. they're families that are very recognizable and relatable. they're sort of dipping their toe into difficult areas and having conversations that we are all still having. >> we're at the, at the plaque on the norman lear building. >> reporter: we recently caught up with the creator of both iconic series. >> the only thing i knew to write about was what i saw around me. there's nothing that we did on "all in the family" or "the jeffersons" or any other show that wasn't going on. >> how about a woman president? >> oh, holy cow. >> a woman president? >> mr. jefferson, this may come as a big surprise to you, but women are much more oppressed than blacks. >> i don't see no

women. >> what do you call a kitchen? >> the people who were dealing with it were people i knew. versions of people i know. because i believe we have versions of one another. >> norman lear, when you look back at it, was a genius. a genius, because who would think to put this bigot on television and surround him with all of these characters who represent so much in our country. edith, the downtrodden wife. >> you know what i think? >> what, ma? >> i think we ought to eat. >> gloria, the feminist daughter. >> you have to treat ma like she was a slave? >> i treat her like a housewife. >> case closed. >> married to a very liberal guy who was forcing his father-in-law to confront his racism. >> people have arrived. they're here. >> i ain't lettin' them in. >> archie bunker was afraid of

tomorrow, was afraid of progress. >> the jeffersons were the bunkers' neighbors. >> ha, ha, you're in. >> no i ain't, i'm out. >> george and louise jefferson had become so financially successful that they couldn't leave queens and move to the upper east side of manhattan. >> who would have figured except for norman lear that a spinoff would be the way to do it and the rest was history. ♪ well, we're movin' on up ♪ movin' on up ♪ to the east side >> the theme song for the jeffe jeffersons tells it all. ♪ movin' on up >> the song is dipped in black culture, black references and black english. fish don't fry in the kitchen, beans don't burn on the grill. it only rhymes if you're black. ♪ now we're up in the big

leagues ♪ >> for a lot of black people in this country, it was a theme song that just resonated. >> the rest of the world hadn't seen anything like the jeffersons. >> they represented an upper middle class, upwardly mobile. they were living the american dream. >> you live in this apartment, right? >> uh-huh. >> and you got an apartment in this building, too? >> yes, that's right. >> well how come we overcame and nobody told me? >> these shows were champions for inclusivity and diversity and yet the people calling the shots, the producers were almost exclusively white men. >> after they do the table read, they get up from the table and the director and producers and writers sit there and discuss the scene. i didn't know any better, so i stayed at the table. anyway, i started interrupting. excuse me, excuse me, black people don't talk like that. and they listened to me. >> reporter: for many of the new cast it felt like a perfect time to introduce these classic shows to a new generation.

>> i think we're in this moment right now where the country is very divided. it just feels like the perfect time to kind of reintroduce, you know, not just these characters but this show and the issues it brought up to, to a younger generation. >> you know what's really bothering you, louise? you feel guilty about spending the money. >> well, i can't help it. it's the way i was brought up. a penny saved is a penny earned. >> a penny, huh. >> the idea of bringing these shows to life at a time when so much of what we're talking about in these shows needs to still be talked about and to bring these shows to a new generation of eyeballs, i just, i wanted to be a part of that. >> gather around, everybody, i'm going to make a toast to archie. >> we couldn't be having more fun doing something that we love to do, reading words that were written by, you know, norman lear. >> can't you men change the subject? >> yeah, gloria's right. >> i'm talkin', michael.

>> oh, boy. >> i'm giddy. i think the whole thing is straight out of a dream of mine. >> reporter: the 90-minute prime time special will be the first of its kind, and the pressure is on. >> i think these are great shows, and i want to make sure a younger generation knows them and understands why they were important. >> i think there is, you know, a responsibility to step into this production. the most important thing is you have to do a good job. >> i'd be lying to you if i said i wasn't nervous, if i wasn't scared, if i wasn't excited, if i wasn't proud. i'm all of those things. and more. >> and satch thetlin all about e

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♪ just this past sunday, 17-year-old braxton graduated from high school in kansas. next week he'll peick up a degre from harvard. he has been taking summer and online classes since he was 11. so 11 days after graduating from high school he will grab his harvard diploma. braxton says next stop, law school. not too shabby. braxton, you make us all feel just a little bit inferior but also proud. that's "nightline" for tonight. you can always watch our full episodes streaming on hulu. i've slain your dreaded dragon. for saving the kingdom what doth thou desire? my lord? hey good knight. where are you going?

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