THE SEXUAL HARASSMENT allegations against CBS CEO Les Moonves might impact the future of television host Julie Chen.
After the bombshell revelations from a new New Yorker report written by Ronan Farrow, Chen released a statement Friday (July 27) defending Moonves, her husband of 14 years.
In the New Yorker article, Moonves, CBS' head honcho, was accused by six women who said he forcibly touched or kissed them in the workplace and when they rejected him, their careers were negatively affected.
“Throughout my time at CBS, we have promoted a culture of respect and opportunity for all employees, and have consistently found success elevating women to top executive positions across our company,” Moonves told the New Yorker in a statement. “I recognize that there were times decades ago when I may have made some women uncomfortable by making advances. Those were mistakes, and I regret them immensely. But I always understood and respected—and abided by the principle—that ‘no’ means ‘no,’ and I have never misused my position to harm or hinder anyone’s career. This is a time when we all are appropriately focused on how we help improve our society, and we at CBS are committed to being part of the solution.” Chen, as host for The Talk and Big Brother, is one of the most prominent Asian American TV personalities. No doubt the situation will get awkward at work. The Monday (July 30) episode of The Talk will likely be one of the most watched shows in the program's history if she shows up as co-host. ________________________________________________________________________________
On Friday afternoon, a new New Yorker report written by Ronan Farrow revealed allegations of sexual harassment against CBS CEO Les Moonves, spanning from the 1980s into the early 2000s. Six women say the network chairman forcibly touched or kissed them in the workplace, physically intimidated them and/or threatened their careers. After rejecting him, all allege their careers were negatively affected. Moonves issued a statement denying their claims that he had “misused” his “position,” while admitting that “there were times decades ago when I may have made some women uncomfortable by making advances.” Said Moonves, “Those were mistakes, and I regret them immensely. But I always understood and respected — and abided by the principle — that ‘no’ means ‘no,’ and I have never misused my position to harm or hinder anyone’s career.” Now, Julie Chen, Moonves’s wife and host of Big Brother on CBS, has tweeted a statement of support for her husband.
Grace Park and Daniel Dae Kim left 'Hawaii Five-0.'
CBS is still being dogged about questions of diversity and inclusion after the controversial departure of two prominent Asian/American actors from Hawaii Five-0.
Korean/Americans Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park, who were both series regulars from the beginning of the series, made the decision to leave the series ahead of its upcoming eighth season after the network and producers CBS Television Studios did not offer them the same deals as white co-stars Alex O'Loughlin and Scott Caan.
Since their exits were announced just before the July 4th weekend, the network insists the decision not to treat Kim and Park equally with their white co-stars, was not based on race. The network's attempts to explain what happened and why the two AAPI actors left the successful Hawaii-based series still sound hollow.
CBS has tried to dampen the outcry by replacing Kim and Park with three other AAPI actors and elevating three Hawaiian/Americans to regular cast members.
Kim, said he grateful for his time on Hawaii Five-0 and respected the people he worked with in front and behind the camera. "That said, it's possible to be grateful for the opportunity and respectful of the colleagues and the people that I work with and still maintain a steadfast sense of your self-worth," Kim told reporters Sunday (July 6) at the Television Critics Association's summer press tour, where he was supporting ABC'sThe Good Doctor,in which he acts as executive producer.
In a note on his Facebook page, Kim thanked fans, the cast, crew and creative team and singled out how important playing Chin Ho was to him: "As an Asian-American actor, I know first-hand how difficult it is to find opportunities at all, let alone play a well-developed, three-dimensional character like Chin Ho. I will miss him sincerely. … The path to equality is rarely easy."
CBS Entertainment president Kelly Kahl said at the Television Critics Association press tour on last week and senior executive vice president Thom Sherman were hammered on the network's lack of inclusive casting and male-dominated lineup issues during their time before the press at TCA. "We are absolutely moving in the right direction," Kahl said, citing a 60 percent lift in non-white series regulars and ongoing efforts to include more people of color behind the scenes.
One of the TV critics noted the absence of a female-fronted series on the network, Sherman explained that it was not for a lack of trying. "CBS did develop female lead shows last year," he said. "The way things turned out, those pilots were felt not to be as good as the other shows that were picked up."
Another reminded the execs that multiple CBS series, including the passed-over drama pilot Mission Control, were written with diverse leads, but then cast with white actors in the starring roles. Sherman reminded the audience that the show was cast before he and Kahl were in their current roles. One of the problems might be with CBS casting department, which is whiter than the shows being aired. A reporter revealed that the network's casting departments in L.A. and New York are all white, which surprised many of the critics in the room. Asked to explain, Sherman offered, a bit lamely, that the departments have "been together for a long time," but he added that it is something the network is "looking at."
"We are making progress," insisted Kahl.
“We can debate the pace of the change, but there is change happening at CBS,” Kahl said, noting an overall uptick in diverse series regulars in recent years. “Every single drama on our air has at least one diverse regular character.”
Gee, thanks. I guess we're supposed be grateful for that.
To be fair ...
Perhaps Kahl and Sherman should try connecting with the corporation's efforts to diversify its work force. It has launched its Diversity Initiative, which it launched in 2016 in an effort to find actors, comedians, writers and behind-the-camera talent to nurture and train in their careers.
The CBS Corporation Diversity Council dedicates its time and effort to assist the CBS Corporation to meet its goals in Diversity and Inclusion in both the letter and the spirit of those goals. In so doing, it supports and strengthens efforts companywide to:
Build representation of diverse groups throughout our workforce at every level
Identify the best practices from across divisions that help build the careers of diverse employees and work to communicate the benefit of those practices to implement them companywide
Continue the process of identifying diverse suppliers to build their ongoing role in the provision of goods and services to the company
Strengthen the dialogue across the corporation around the topics of Diversity and Inclusion – building bridges between divisions, corporate groups and employee groups devoted to this important topic
Provide outreach to the communities we serve through employee engagement, partnerships, mentoring and informational forums
Enhance and build robust communications vehicles centering on diversity efforts, outreach and initiatives
Ins Choi performs a poem in honor of the stancce taken by Grace Park and Daniel Dae Kim.
THE UNCEREMONIOUS DEPARTURE from Hawaii Five-0 of two of television's most prominent Asian/Americanactors continues to be felt throughout the entertainment industry.
Attempts to reduce the controversy to a simple matter of money have only served to act as fuel to the fire.
“This issue goes beyond compensation,” read a statement from the Council of Korean Americans. “It highlights the ongoing problem of lack of diversity in Hollywood and that people of color, especially Asians, are considered peripheral, second-class and disposable.”
The CKA announced on Friday (July 7) that it has asked its constituents to place phone calls to CBS Television Studios president David Stapf and head of drama development Bryan Seabury to voice complaints over contract negotiations that led the two actors to leave the cop procedural.
The headline of a column by Variety critic Sonia Saraiya read "CBS made the wrong call on Daniel Dae Kim, Grace Park."
"Asian/Americans already face many issues in Hollywood, including typecasting and whitewashing.," said Rep. Grace Meng, D-NY. "The entertainment industry continues to struggle with accurately portraying Asian American stories and including diverse characters. Not paying artists fairly further increases these problems by putting up barriers for Asian American performers to break through in the industry. I call upon Hollywood studios and producers to address pay inequity, offensive stereotypes, and lack of Asian American representation on and off screen.”
The stance taken by Park and Kim may have ramifications beyond the entertainment world. Their real-life stand makes them even more real role models than being just characters on a show could.
The two Asian/American actors' acts of defiance or standing up for themselves might serve as role models for those who see very few examples of assertive Asian/Americans on the big or small Hollywood screens, a problem described in Self by Nancy Wang Yuen. They can also be inspirational for other Asian/Americans, women and other minorities who face pay equity issues in other lines of work such as in the high-tech industry or in the field of medicine.
Ins Choi — the playwright and star of the Off Broadway play Kim’s Convenience — performed his poem “Mine Eyes Are Lean” after the show. Part of the production’s Soulpepper Cabaret series, the spoken-word poetry was dedicated to Kim and Park, as Choi recounted his history of auditioning for parts as an Asian actor.
This video was taken by New York theater videographer Howard Sherman.
