What Leslie Moonves Allegations of Sexual Misconduct Say About CBS – Variety

One of the most infuriating aspects of the many stories of rooted Hollywood abuse that has been revealed is the way alleged perpetrators have apparently abandoned their misdeeds for decades. From their position of power, they have prevented the deserving voices from flourishing so that the brand image is "flirting" and the victims are seen as the "price to pay for doing business". Each story is another piece of the puzzle of deeply rooted abuse patterns that some of the most dominant members of the entertainment industry have established and protected for decades.

The New Yorker's report on the allegations against CEO Les Moonves is arguably the most important. one of the most influential people in Hollywood, period. In addition to presenting six separate accounts of Moonves' alleged misconduct, the report details the harsh reality that abusive power actors have long ago shaped how stories, both real and fictitious, are told.

could never, start and end with Moonves. The poisonous behavior of one person influences those who work for and around him to follow suit – and Moonves has a lot of employees. As CEO of CBS Corp., he does not run the day-to-day operations of any of the company's subsidiaries – CBS itself, CBS News, CBS All Access, CBS Television Studios, CBS Interactive, CBS Films, CBS Studios Int & # 39; l. , CBS Television Distribution, The CW, Showtime and, as a bonus, the publishing house Simon & Schuster. But he is still their ultimate arbiter, setting the precedent for what his employees can expect to work there.

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Thus, while the allegations hit the headlines, the New Yorker Report is particularly keen to point out that his alleged behavior has encouraged sexual harassment and coercion at all levels of society. In particular, the report presents overwhelming evidence that "60 Minutes" can not be the reliable source of news that it claims to be if the most influential men of the show are, in fact, constantly playing coverup for their toxic peers and dismissing their female employees as lesser. How can it be trusted as a hard-hitting information program if no rigor of investigation has been applied?

The problem of trust extends well beyond "60 minutes". Several other personalities of the CBS Corp. family been submitted to the #MeToo projector. At the end of last year, Variety reported that chemical weapons producer Andrew Kreisberg and producer of "NCIS" Brad Kern have been harassing women on their plateaus for years. (Kreisberg has since been fired, Kern remains a consulting producer on "NCIS: New Orleans.") And in November, the Washington Post reported multiple allegations against Charlie Rose, who was as close to a CBS institution as ever . (Rose was fired.)

The point is simple: people accused of sexual harassment and aggression have formed the backbone of police procedures, dramas of teenage superheroes and certain the most reliable news in the country. How did these men shape the stories they told millions? What stories have not been told at all? Which voices have been silenced or rejected as unimportant? Who was high, and who became a collateral damage? What have we lost precisely because of the powerful egos who have thrown themselves?

And this is not just CBS. From Charlie Rose to Bill O'Reilly, Matt Lauer to Mark Halperin, Brett Ratner to John Lasseter, Louis CK to Garrison Keillor, to virtually a baseball team of vice-media executives, men who received extraordinary platforms turned out to be opportunists who used their positions to abuse their subordinates. And together – behind news bureaus, in comedy routines, on the radio, in salacious bestsellers and on giant blockbuster screens – they have shaped how the people who listen to them see the world around them. them.

Dark image are extraordinary – and completely unsurprising. With newsrooms brimming with chauvinistic behavior, it goes without saying that political candidates end up spending so much time fighting for the same consideration and against sexist coverage. Of course, female characters have been sacrificed in the service of men, or assaulted in the name of "character growth". And with so many executives seeing women around them as easily disposable toys. It's no wonder that projects that they Greenlight tend to do the same thing.

So, yes: rummaging the rampant corruption around us is a painful, confused, thorny process. But when the stakes are as important as the change in how our entire culture is represented on the screen and beyond, it's worth trying to eliminate the rot by its stubborn roots. .