CBS heavyweight Les Moonves accused of sexual misconduct, apologises for ‘making advances’
Six women who had professional dealings with Moonves said that he sexually harassed them between the 1980s and late 2000s
A bombshell article published in The New Yorker on Friday accused CBS chairman and chief executive, Leslie Moonves, of sexual misconduct stretching back decades and painted a broader picture of similar behaviour within America’s most watched television network.
The article 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.
CBS announced that it had launched an investigation into the “recently reported” alleged misconduct. Reports about the story sent CBS shares tumbling more than 6 per cent, hours before it was even published.
Six women who had professional dealings with Moonves told the magazine that he sexually harassed them between the 1980s and late 2000s.
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’s Ronan Farrow reported.
“I 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,” Moonves said in a statement.
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 programme 60 Minutes. But his wife, Julie Chen, whom he married in 2004 and who is the host of Big Brother on CBS, said she fully supported her husband.