New York
\nA bombshell article published in The New Yorker has accused CBS chairman and chief executive, Leslie Moonves, of sexual misconduct stretching back decades and painted a broader picture of similar behaviour within America\u2019s most watched television network.<\/p>\n
The article published on Friday makes Moonves, a distinguished executive who transformed CBS into a ratings winner, one of the most powerful American men implicated in the #MeToo era that ignited last year after the career implosion of Harvey Weinstein.<\/p>\n
CBS announced that it had launched an investigation into the \u201crecently reported\u201d alleged misconduct. Reports about the story sent CBS shares tumbling more than six percent, hours before it was even published.<\/p>\n
Six women who had professional dealings with Moonves told the magazine that he sexually harassed them between the 1980s and late 2000s.<\/p>\n
Four described forcible touching or kissing during business meetings, and two said Moonves physically intimidated them or threatened to derail their careers, The New Yorker\u2019s Ronan Farrow reported.<\/p>\n
\u201cI recognise that there were times decades ago when I may have made some women uncomfortable by making advances. Those were mistakes, and I regret them immensely,\u201d Moonves said in a statement.<\/p>\n
The New Yorker said 30 current or former employees complained that such behaviour extended from Moonves to important parts of the corporation, including CBS News and its flagship investigative program \u201c60 Minutes.\u201d But his wife, Julie Chen, whom he married in 2004 and who is the host of \u201cBig Brother\u201d on CBS, said she fully supported her husband.<\/p>\n
\u201cLeslie is a good man and a loving father, deovted husband and inspirign corporate leader. He has always been a kind, decent and moral human being,\u201d she said on Twitter.<\/p>\n
The New Yorker reported that during Moonves\u2019s tenure, men at CBS News who were accused of sexual misconduct were promoted, even as the company paid settlements to women with complaints.<\/p>\n
The magazine said 19 current and former employees accused Jeff Fager, the former chairman of CBS News and the current executive producer of \u201c60 Minutes,\u201d of allowing harassment in the division.<\/p>\n
CBS suggested the article did not accurately reflect a company that \u201cdoes its best to treat its tens of thousands of employees with dignity and respect.\u201d \u201cWe are seeing vigorous discourse in our country about equality, inclusion, and safety in the workplace, and CBS is committed to being part of the solution,\u201d it said in a statement.<\/p>\n
The corporation\u2019s board of directors had earlier issued a pre-emptive statement, saying that upon conclusion of its investigation, it would \u201cpromptly review the findings and take appropriate action.\u201d In November, CBS News sacked Charlie Rose, at the time one of America\u2019s most respected TV journalists, after eight women told The Washington Post he had made unwanted sexual advances.<\/p>\n
Farrow shared a Pulitzer Prize with The New York Times for his reporting on fallen Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, which galvanized the #MeToo movement to quash pervasive sexual harassment in showbiz and other industries.<\/p>\n
In May, another article he wrote forced the swift resignation of New York state attorney general Eric Schneiderman, who was accused of physically assaulting four women.<\/p>\n
It was not immediately clear what impact his latest expose would have on a legal battle for control of the US television giant – between the Redstone family, which controls CBS, and the board, chaired by Moonves.<\/p>\n
Shari Redstone is a major shareholder of both CBS and Viacom, and is seeking to merge the two companies. Moonves opposes the deal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New York A bombshell article published in The New Yorker has accused CBS chairman and chief executive, Leslie Moonves, of sexual misconduct stretching back decades and painted a broader picture of similar behaviour within America\u2019s most watched television network. The article published on Friday makes Moonves, a distinguished executive who transformed CBS into a ratings […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37633,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[87],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37632"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37632\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37634,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37632\/revisions\/37634"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}