Les Moonves has stepped down from his position as CEO and chairman at CBS after a New Yorker article came out exposing him for sexual assault and harassment.
Six women have accused Moovas of sexual assault and harassment.
According to the article, Moonves did everything from outright sexually assaulting them to punishing them for turning down his advances.
Janet Jones, who was trying to make it as a writer, landed a meeting with Moonves that went horribly wrong.
Suddenly, Jones told me, “he came around the corner of the table and threw himself on top of me. It was very fast.” Moonves, she said, began trying to kiss her. Jones said that she struggled, and then shoved Moonves away hard, yelling, “What do you think you’re doing?” Moonves, appearing startled, got up. “ ‘Well, I was hitting on you. I wanted a kiss,’ ” she recalled him saying. Jones began to leave. “He said, ‘Oh, come on, it’s nothing,’ ” she said. “ ‘Calm down, don’t be so excited.’ ”
When Jones got to the door, it was locked. She was terrified. “If you don’t open this door,” she told him, “I am going to scream so loud and so long that everyone on the lot is going to come over.” She remembered Moonves walking to his desk or to a nearby bureau to unlock the door, rather than doing so directly. She fled, noticing on her way out that the assistant had left. “That’s when I got really upset,” she told me. “I just thought, Oh, my God. This wasn’t like a little momentary boo-boo. It was this well-thought-out thing.”
Illeana Douglas detailed her meeting with Moonves over Queens, a pilot that never made it to CBS.
“In a millisecond, he’s got one arm over me, pinning me,” she said. Moonves was “violently kissing” her, holding her down on the couch with her arms above her head. “What it feels like to have someone hold you down—you can’t breathe, you can’t move,” she said. “The physicality of it was horrendous.” She recalled lying limp and unresponsive beneath him. “You sort of black out,” she told me. “You think, How long is this going to go on? I was just looking at this nice picture of his family and his kids. I couldn’t get him off me.” She said it was only when Moonves, aroused, pulled up her skirt and began to thrust against her that her fear overcame her paralysis. She told herself that she had to do something to stop him. “At that point, you’re a trapped animal,” she told me. “Your life is flashing before your eyes.” Moonves, in what Douglas assumed was an effort to be seductive, paused and asked, “So, what do you think?” Douglas told me, “My decision was to get out of it by joking my way out, so he feels flattered.” Thinking that reminding Moonves that he was her boss might discourage him, she told him, “Yes, for the head of a network you’re some good kisser.” Moonves frowned and got up. She scrambled to find her briefcase. “Well, this has been great. Thanks,” she recalled saying, moving toward the door. “I’ve got to go now.”
Douglas was fired from the set of Queens after the incident.
Christine Peters, who produced How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days, was in line to become an executive at CBS Films until her meeting with Moonves.
“I remember him being very enthusiastic, saying it made a lot of sense.” She was sitting on a couch and, as she continued her pitch, he sat down uncomfortably close. “He said, ‘This is really great,’ ” she recalled. “Then he just put a hand up my skirt.” Moonves, she said, slid his hand up her thigh and touched her underwear.
Other women came forward to accuse Moonves with far inappropriate activity with claims of at least 30 employees connected to Moonves’ harassment. That means they either knew about it and did nothing or got away with sexual harassment of their own.
You can read the entire article at The New Yorker.
Moonves released a statement on the matter:
“Throughout my time at CBS, we have promoted a culture of respect and opportunity for all employees, and have consistently found success elevating women to top executive positions across our company. I recognize 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. But I always understood and respected—and abided by the principle—that ‘no’ means ‘no,’ and I have never misused my position to harm or hinder anyone’s career. This is a time when we all are appropriately focused on how we help improve our society, and we at CBS are committed to being part of the solution.”
I guess by stepping down, he’s acting as part of the solution.
I’m shocked another powerful white man tried to use his position to force himself onto ladies and then hold them back when they wanted nothing to do with his saggy balls.