UPDATE, 7:32 p.m. ET — As of tonight, Les Moonves has officially stepped down from CBS, and it looks like his severance package will instead be donated to a #MeToo Movement organization. Click here for more details on that.
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Believe it or not, MORE women have now brought forth allegations of sexual harassment, sexual assault, and sexual violence against embattled CBS Chief Executive Officer Les Moonves.
The new allegations were put forth in a New Yorker piece published on Sunday morning by author Ronan Farrow; in it, six more women allege that Moonves forced them into unwanted sexual situations ,and then allegedly retaliated if/when they refused his advances.
Related: Les Moonves & Wife Julie Chen Respond To Accusations
According to the women as told to Farrow, Moonves allegedly performed an array of unwanted actions, including forcing some of the women to allegedly perform oral sex; reportedly, he exposed himself to some of the women, as well.
One of the women in the new allegations is a veteran TV exec named Phyllis Golden-Gottlieb; she told Farrow that she filed a criminal complaint late last year with the LAPD. Upon checking with the department, Farrow found that the police considered Golden-Gottlieb’s accusations creditable, but the statute of limitations had passed on bringing charges.
Regardless, the new accusations are damning, and simply go to pile on other serious older accusations that are similar against Moonves; the CBS board had been actively trying to negotiate his departure, but this makes things a whole lot worse.
For his part, Moonves released a statement to the New Yorker about the new accusations saying (below):
“The appalling accusations in this article are untrue, the statement began. What is true is that I had consensual relations with three of the women some 25 years ago before I came to CBS. And I have never used my position to hinder the advancement or careers of women … In my 40 years of work, I have never before heard of such disturbing accusations. I can only surmise they are surfacing now for the first time, decades later, as part of a concerted effort by others to destroy my name, my reputation, and my career. Anyone who knows me knows that the person described in this article is not me.”
OK then.
Thoughts, Perezcious readers?!
Let us know in the comments (below)…
[Image via WENN.]
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