Two white cameramen for NBC's The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon say they were fired by the leader of the show's house band for simply receiving a racist text — while a black band member who received the same message was protected.

Page Six reports that camera operators Kurt Decker and Michael Cimino have filed a $2 million lawsuit in the Manhattan Supreme Court against both NBC and Questlove (pictured above), drummer and bandleader for The Roots, over a June 19, 2017 incident for which they claim they were fired “on the basis of the color of their skin."

That incident centered on an unsolicited text sent to Decker and Cimino by an unnamed stagehand during the middle of a taping. The text showed “a piece of fried chicken with a bite out of it along with a racial slur that inevitably depicts African Americans,” according to their attorney Richard Roth, who said the slur included "the n-word."

“Both were shocked to receive it and repulsed by its content,” the suit says. Neither cameraman responded to the message, and both immediately told superiors that they had nothing to do with it.

But the next day the cameramen were suspended, despite having a combined 40 years of “spotless performance” with NBC. Roots bassist Mark Kelley, who is African-American, also received the text but was not fired.

Questlove had allegedly demanded their heads, according to the lawsuit, and “NBC acquiesced to Questlove’s overtly discriminatory demand."

Page Six also notes that the network barred the cameramen from discussing their firing with their former NBC colleagues, so they couldn’t defend themselves against charges of bigotry.

An NBC spokeswoman said, “We have strong policies in place that protect against discrimination in any form. The decision about these plaintiffs was the company’s alone.” A network source added that “failure to report the inappropriate text was one of the policies violated by the plaintiffs,” although the suit notes that the two cameramen reported the text immediately.

Hard to understand how simply receiving an unsolicited text and then reporting it and denouncing its racist content constitutes a fireable offense of discrimination -- especially since a third person received the same text and kept his job -- until you remember that in 2011, Questlove had led the band in playing the song “Lyin’ Ass B—h” when former presidential candidate Michele Bachmann was introduced and came onstage as a guest on the show.

Maybe the real source of the discrimination at The Tonight Show is Questlove.