Tuesday, July 31, 2018

Full Moonves

"CBS chief faces inquiry over misconduct allegations" by Edmund Lee New York Times   July 27, 2018

The CBS board of directors said Friday that it would investigate allegations of misconduct against the company’s chief executive, Leslie Moonves, the subject of an article in The New Yorker focused on claims about his behavior toward women.

A Hollywood gossip site I often frequent outed him months ago.

The article says six women who had professional dealings with Moonves say he sexually harassed them between the 1980s and late 2000s. The New Yorker article also said a culture of misconduct extended from Moonves to other parts of the corporation, including CBS News. It said men in that division who were accused of sexual misconduct were promoted, even as the company paid settlements to women with complaints.

And I thought that only happened at Fox and NBC.

Related: 

"The lack of immediate consequences for Moonves was striking at a time when some media companies have taken swift action against prominent employees who have been accused of misconduct. Moonves is well-known in the entertainment community but has spent his career in executive suites, rather than before the camera. Still, the CBS board could face recriminations from consumers and from those who believe more immediate action should have been taken. Moonves draws an annual pay package worth $69.3 million. If the board ultimately fires him without finding him at fault, he would draw more than $184 million in pay and benefits as part of his exit. Moonves, 68, has held senior management roles at the network for more than three decades and has been chief executive since 2006. He led a turnaround at CBS, taking it from last place to the most-watched network with hits like “Survivor” and “The Big Bang Theory.” 

Now you know why there is such gutter humor and slop on that network.

Moonves, 68, a former actor who rose through the ranks to lead CBS and take it from last place to the most-watched television network, is separately embroiled in a legal dispute with Shari Redstone, who controls the company. A statement released on behalf of Redstone denied that she had anything to do with the article in The New Yorker.

“The malicious insinuation that Ms. Redstone is somehow behind the allegations of inappropriate personal behavior by Mr. Moonves or today’s reports is false and self-serving,” the statement said. “Ms. Redstone hopes that the investigation of these allegations is thorough, open and transparent.”

In May, CBS and Moonves lost one of the early rounds of the dispute when a judge ruled against CBS’ effort to reduce Redstone’s influence over the network. She, through her family company, controls nearly 80 percent of the company’s voting rights.

Issues over those rights and the leadership of CBS will be decided in the court case this year. That lawsuit had already put Moonves’s storied career at stake; if he loses, he may end up leaving the company.....

It's a bad omen for not only Les but the rest of us.

--more--"

Oh, he moves comfortably among both Wall Street investors and Hollywood producers, huh?

One wonders if the NYT sat on this like they did Weinstein.

What becomes clear is that the elite ruling cla$$ is made up of pedophiles and perverts, including the pre$$ and ma$$ media that frame the world for you and tell you what to think (what was that dead body doing in your office, Joe?).

UPDATE: CBS mum on Moonves

So is the Globe.