Revlon CEO Lorenzo Delpani is accused of anti-Semitic and racist abuse. Photo: Revlon publicity.

Cosmetics giant Revlon is at the center of a legal row involving a former Jewish employee who said he had been on the receiving end of anti-Semitic, anti-American and racist abuse from the company’s CEO.

Alan Meyers, formerly Revlon’s chief scientific officer, claimed in a lawsuit filed on Tuesday in Manhattan federal court that CEO Lorenzo Delpani treated him differently from other members of his team, nearly all of whom were Spanish or Italian, because he was Jewish and American-born.

Meyers said that the Italian-born Delpani referred to Americans as “small-minded” and “dirty,” and at one meeting said he was surprised at the lack of Jewish executives at Revlon because “Jews stick together.”

In making the comments, Delpani mentioned Ronald Perelman, Revlon’s billionaire controlling shareholder who is also Jewish, the lawsuit said.

Meyers also claimed that the portly Delpani, 56, made a racist comment after a meeting in South Africa, when he said he “could smell a black person when he entered a room.”

Revlon spokeswoman Kiki Rees on Wednesday said Meyers was a disgruntled employee who did not perform up to company standards.

“Mr. Meyers repeatedly demonstrated critical lapses in judgment and failed to perform at the high standard we demand of our employees,” Rees said.

In the suit, Meyers claims Delpani’s tirades and tormenting eventually became outright bullying.