EYES ON CBS, EDGE,
Disgraced Moonves deserves no payout from CBS
This is a big week for Les Moonves. The board of directors for CBS, the network Moonves took to ratings glory with such shows as “Survivor” and “The Big Bang Theory,” is set to meet and vote on whether to award him $120 million in severance. And doing so would drop a thunderously wrong message to viewers, CBS shareholders and employees, and just about anyone with a pulse. The ex-CEO resigned in disgrace in September after a dozen women accused him of sexual misconduct. CBS has the right to deny him his golden parachute if it finds he breached their code of conduct. An investigation, reported on by The New York Times last week, reveals just how disgusting his behavior was. According to investigators hired by the network, Moonves “engaged in multiple acts of serious nonconsensual sexual misconduct in and outside of the workplace, both before and after he came to CBS in 1995.” (And let’s note one of the strangest moments on TV last week: a CBS’ “This Morning” representative having to interview a New York Times reporter for details about Moonves’ actions and reporting a “no comment” from her own network.) Moonves reportedly kept a woman on staff who was required to provide oral sex to him. He also received oral sex from four CBS employees in situations deemed improper. Moonves’ attorney denies any nonconsensual sexual contact. Investigators believe Moonves’ bad behavior stopped after his 2004 marriage to “Big Brother” host Julie Chen. They also said Moonves had been “evasive and untruthful at times and … deliberately lied about and minimized the extent of his sexual misconduct.” Of all the many sordid details that have come to light, one bit I keep tripping over concerns the iPad. Moonves reportedly turned over his son’s iPad to investigators and claimed it was his own. I’m assuming this is the son he has with Chen, who would be about 10 years old. Maybe the first sign that Moonves was trying to pull a fast one was all those “Teen Titans Go!” cartoons. That’s just a crazy guess. What kind of father involves a minor child in his miscreant behavior? But good judgment, as we have learned in recent months, is not Moonves’ strength. Moonves apparently deleted hundreds of texts from his own iPad with a talent manager representing one of his accusers. At least one CBS board member knew about the allegations against Moonves for more than a decade. When one woman complained to Oscar-winning film producer Arnold Kopelson in 2007 that Moonves had tried to kiss her and had masturbated in front of her years earlier, Kopelson allegedly trivialized it and said, “We all did that.” Kopelson was one of Moonves’ most ardent supporters on the board. He died in October. CBS hasn’t covered itself in anything close to glory when it comes to Moonves. This holiday season, CBS’ board needs to give Moonves what he’s earned: A stocking full of nothing.