HE WAS BAD NEWS
NEW ALLEGATIONS VS. BIG NAMES
THE CAREER of veteran journalist Mark Halperin took several more hits on Thursday amid ongoing allegations from women that he sexually harassed them when he worked at ABC News.
Halperin, 52, was pulled from his contributor’s role for MSNBC and NBC just hours after five women told CNN on Wednesday that he propositioned them and touched them inappropriately on the job.
Then, HBO said it was scrapping its plan to run a miniseries based on Halperin’s 2016 presidential campaign reporting.
And Showtime said it’s going to “evaluate its options” for a second season of “The Circus,” a docuseries based on Halperin’s 2016 reporting.
The next hit came from Halperin’s publisher.
Penguin Press announced Thursday it canceled a deal with Halperin to publish a book about the 2016 election.
Two more women also came forward with allegations of sexual harassment from Halperin — adding their voices to the initial five who spoke to CNN.
The first group of women recounted stories that ranged from Halperin “propositioning employees for sex to kissing and grabbing one’s breasts against her will,” CNN reported.
Three of the women who spoke to CNN described Halperin as, without consent, pressing an erection against their bodies while he was clothed.
After that report aired, author and journalist Emily Miller tweeted #MeToo.
“I was ANOTHER junior ABC employee he sexually assaulted,” she wrote.
“I did not report Halperin to ABC because I thought I was the only one, and I blamed myself, and I was embarrassed and I was scared of him,” she added.
On Thursday, another woman shared a similar Halperin story with The Daily Beast.
The woman asked to keep her name confidential because she is still a working journalist.
The “Game Change” author often liked to give her the “occasional lecherous grin” and indulge in flirtatious talk when they passed in the ABC hallways, she told the Daily Beast.
But things escalated one day when he called her in to a room for what she thought was a professional meeting — but instead tried to grab her.
“I was about to sit down to begin the meeting, and he closed the door, and all of the sudden was standing right in front of me — so close he was basically touching me,” she told the Daily Beast.
Halperin tried to back her into a corner despite her entreaties to stop and leave her alone. The incident ended when she made a break for the door, she said.
Halperin never threatened her after that and eventually resumed flirting with her, she said.
“It felt like it was normal for him. You got the sense that it was like he’d get what he wanted if he tried enough,” she told The Daily Beast.
Halperin on Wednesday denied all allegations of inappropriate touching. But he issued an apology for his behavior, which dates to the 1990s.
“During this period, I did pursue relationships with women that I worked with, including some junior to me,” he said.
“I now understand from these accounts that my behavior was inappropriate and caused others pain. For that, I am deeply sorry and I apologize,” Halperin added.
Halperin is just the latest figure to face sexual harassment allegations.
Similar reports have rocked the careers and reputations Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, former Fox News anchor Bill O’Reilly, screenwriter and director James Toback and others.