Farrow believes the exit is going to happen much quicker now, though, as six more women have accused Moonves of sexual harassment and assault. The allegations include “claims that Moonves forced them to perform oral sex on him, that he exposed himself to them without their consent, and that he used physical violence and intimidation against them.” Some of them also say that Moonves “retaliated after they rebuffed him” by “damaging their careers,” following the pattern set by the previous allegations.
One of the new accusers is Phyllis Golden-Gottlieb, a now-retired TV executive who used to work with Moonves at the Lorimar production company. She filed a criminal complaint against Moonves last year, and while the LAPD found her allegations “credible and consistent,” they couldn’t pursue the case by the statute of limitations had passed. She says she Moonves forced her to perform oral sex on him once while driving her to lunch, but she didn’t say anything at the time because she was a single mother and recognized that Moonves was the studio’s “new golden boy.”
She avoided any situations where she’d be alone with Moonves, until one day when he exposed himself to her in his office. She ran out and later “berated her” for not sending a memo to a different executive about something, and when she explained that she didn’t really do that, he allegedly grabbed her and threw her against the wall. After that, he started moving her into progressively smaller offices, apparently just to make things harder for her. While Golden-Gottlieb says she told friends about what happened, she decided to come forward publicly because of the strength of the #MeToo movement.
The other accusers, including writer Jessica Pallingston, makeup artist Deborah Green, Lorimar junior executive Deborah Morris, writer Linda Silverthorn, and a former massage therapist named Deborah Kitay, all have similar stories, typically with Moonves allegedly establishing a legitimate justification for a meeting, exposing himself or forcibly kissing them, and then using his growing influence to undermine them in some way—or physically threaten them—when they try to resist.
Meanwhile, some of Farrow’s sources are questioning the legitimacy of CBS’ investigation into the allegations against Moonves. Apparently, the law firms conducting the investigation have done “a large amount of legal work” for the network,” to the extent that one source says “there’s no way you’d think they’re impartial.” Plus, even if investigators determine that Moonves “committed misconduct” and should be fired, only half of his pay—at most—would be withdrawn. In other words, he still stands to make a bunch of money.
Update: In a press release (via Rolling Stone), Moonves has announced that he is indeed resigning from his position at CBS. On top of that, CBS and Moonves will be donating $20 million from any severance that Moonves may receive to one or more organizations that support #MeToo or workplace equality, and Moonves will not receive any addition severance pay until investigations into the allegations against him are completed.
