CEO Les Moonves Leaves CBS Amidst New Sexual Misconduct Allegations

Les Moonves

Les Moonves, the embattled CEO of the CBS Corporation, officially stepped down Sunday after the New Yorker surfaced a second wave of sexual misconduct allegations against him. The network also announced that it would withhold his staggering exit package, reportedly a sum in the neighborhood of $100 million, having apparently taken this second round of credible claims as sufficient grounds for firing.

Reporter Ronan Farrow, whose article on Harvey Weinstein helped jumpstart the #MeToo movement last October, published his first Moonves exposé in early August. The allegations catalogued in that investigation revealed a man who publicly positioned himself as an advocate for workplace equality, while privately forcing himself on his colleagues behind closed doors—allegedly cornering women who showed up at his office for business meetings, attempting to strongarm them into sexual submission, and retaliating against those who turned him down.

At the time, the CBS board of directors announced that it had hired two outside law firms to look into the complaints against Moonves, but seemed loath to act. For his part, the 68-year-old executive acknowledged that, although his past advances "may have made some women uncomfortable," he "always understood and respected—and abided by the principle—that 'no' means 'no,'" and maintained that he had "never misused [his] position to harm or hinder anyone's career." Settlement discussions ensued, and thanks to a contract Moonves signed in May 2017, he could have received between $100 million and $180 million if the corporation fired him without cause. Naturally, the potential payout upset many people, including Time's Up, which accused CBS of fostering a "culture of toxic complicity."

On Sunday, amid reports of CBS waffling, Farrow shared stories from six more women, including television executive Phyllis Golden-Gottlieb, who filed a criminal complaint against Moonves late last year. Golden-Gottlieb says that, in 1986, Moonves forced her to perform oral sex on him, and when she avoided subsequent advances, took steps to sideline her professionally. In 1988, she says, that retaliation turned physical when Moonves allegedly threw her hard into a wall. Other women—a former assistant, a make-up artist, a junior executive, a writer, massage therapists—attested to similarly hostile sexual aggression by Moonves. In a statement to the New Yorker, Moonves admitted he's had "consensual relations" with three of the women interviewed, but did not say which ones. "Anyone who knows me knows that the person described in this article is not me," he insisted.

And yet, Farrow's investigation suggests that Moonves set a corporate tone that encouraged senior male employees to act with impunity. "It's top down, this culture of older men who have all this power and you are nothing," a longterm producer said in Farrow's first piece. "The company is shielding lots of bad behavior." Indeed, other women told him that Jeff Fager—executive producer of 60 Minutes—engaged in similar behavior, and helped cover up complaints against another CBS bigwig, Charlie Rose. Rose was eventually ousted in the wake of a Washington Post report detailing decades of alleged groping, lewd phone calls, and unwanted nudity.

Hours after Farrow's second article came out on Sunday, CBS announced that Chief Operating Officer and Moonves deputy Joseph Ianniello will serve as interim CEO. Rather than awarding Moonves $100 million, the company will donate $20 million to "one or more of the organizations that support the #MeToo movement and equality for women in the workplace."