CBS investigates after CEO accused of sexual assault
July 28, 2018
Following the publication of an article accusing CBS CEO Les Moonves of sexual assault, CBS has launched an investigation. The US broadcaster said "appropriate action" would be taken once the investigation is complete.
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American broadcaster CBS on Friday said it was investigating personal misconduct allegations after the company's chairman and CEO, Les Moonves, was accused of sexual harassment and assault.
The allegations against Moonves were revealed in a New Yorker article published online late Friday, which detailed the experiences of six women who worked with him between the 1980s and late 2000s.
"Four described forcible touching or kissing during business meetings, in what they said appeared to be a practiced routine. Two told me that Moonves physically intimidated them or threatened to derail their careers," journalist Ronan Farrow wrote. "All said that he became cold or hostile after they rejected his advances, and that they believed their careers suffered as a result," he added.
Among the women quoted in the article were actor Illeana Douglas, writer Janet Jones and producer Christine Peters.
Farrow wrote that "thirty current and former employees of CBS told me that such behavior extended from Moonves to important parts of the corporation, including CBS News and '60 Minutes,' one of the network's most esteemed programs."
"During Moonves's tenure, men at CBS News who were accused of sexual misconduct were promoted, even as the company paid settlements to women with complaints," the article continued.
The #MeToo movement, which gained momentum after the Weinstein allegations came out, has seen a number of high profile executives, businessmen, politicians and entertainers be accused of sexual misconduct.
CBS to 'take appropriate action'
CBS said it takes all allegations of personal misconduct seriously and that the independent directors are "investigating claims that violate the company's clear policies in that regard."
The company did not name Moonves but said it had issued the statement in response to the New Yorker article.
CBS said that once the investigation by independent members of its board had been completed, the full corporate board would review the findings and "take appropriate action."
In December Moonves helped to found the Commission on Eliminating Sexual Harassment and Advancing Equality in the Workplace, the New Yorker reported.
"It's a watershed moment … I think it's important that a company's culture will not allow for this. And that's the thing that's far-reaching. There's a lot we're learning. There's a lot we didn't know," it quoted Moonves as saying at a conference in November.
Time's 2017 Person of the Year: The Silence Breakers
Giving power to the #MeToo movement, the people who came forward with their stories of sexual harassment have been named Time's 2017 Person of the Year. Here are some of the most high-profile "Silence Breakers."
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Ashley Judd
In 1997, upcomer Ashley Judd was invited to meet star-maker Harvey Weinstein at an LA hotel, whereupon he tried to coerce her into bed. Judd escaped but refused to be silenced. Many in Hollywood then said the producer's sexual misconduct was an "open secret." "There wasn't a place for us to report these experiences," said Judd, the first to call out Weinstein in the New York Times in October.
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Rose McGowan
When actor Rose McGowan first told people that Harvey Weinstein had raped her, she says some in Hollywood threatened to end her career. "They threatened [me] with being blacklisted. I was blacklisted after I was raped, because I got raped, because I said something," she said in a January interview first published in the Observer. But that didn't stop her from later speaking out.
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Taylor Swift
When Taylor Swift alleged that Denver radio DJ David Mueller reached under her skirt and groped her, he took her to court after it lead to his firing. "I'm not going to let you or your client make me feel in any way that this is my fault," she told his lawyer. Swift also told Time magazine that if Mueller was "brazen enough to assault me... imagine what he might do to a vulnerable, young artist."
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Selma Blair
Blair claims that writer/director James Toback invited her to his room and asked her to remove her clothing while she read a script before asking her for sex. When she refused, he blocked her way and masturbated against her leg. He then threatened to kill her if she dared to talk. "I didn't want to speak up because, it sounds crazy but, even until now, I have been scared for my life," said Blair.
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Alyssa Milano
"Me Too" was first used in 2006 by gender equality activist Tarana Burke as a rallying cry for young sexual harassment and assault survivors. Actor Alyssa Milano was sent a screenshot of the phrase in October and later tweeted: "If you've been sexually harassed or assaulted write 'me too' as a reply to this tweet." She woke to find that over 30,000 people had used #MeToo and burst into tears.
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Wendy Walsh
After Bill O'Reilly and Fox News spent millions on lawyers to settle, and silence, sexual harassment claims, Wendy Walsh, a psychologist and Fox contributor spoke out about O'Reilly after initial reluctance for fear of retaliation. "I felt it was my duty," Walsh told Time, "as a mother of daughters, as an act of love for women everywhere and the women who are silenced, to be brave."
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Megyn Kelly
TV news anchor Megyn Kelly has accused Fox host Bill O'Reilly of sexual harassment. "What if we did complain?" she said to Time, "if we spoke our truth in our strongest voices? What if that worked to change reality right now?" Perhaps that change has already started to come. "I always thought maybe things could change for my daughter," said Kelly. "I never thought things could change for me."
Image: Getty Images/K. Winter
Susan Fowler
An Uber engineer, Fowler felt powerless with "a harasser in the White House" and decided to out sexual harassers at Uber in a blog post. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick was subsequently forced to resign and 20-odd employees were fired. "There's something really empowering about standing up for what's right," said Fowler, who has been described as a whistle-blower — which she calls "a badge of honor."
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Terry Crews
The actor and former American football star is one of a number of men who have said "me too." Crews has taken out a sexual assault lawsuit against talent agent Adam Venit, who he accuses of groping him at a party in Hollywood in February 2016. Also among Time's Silence Breakers is actor Blaise Godbe Lipman, who's accused talent agent Tyler Grasham of sexually assaulting him when he was a teenager.
