The “GMA” producer said she was sexually assaulted by the executive producer and ABC “looked away”

The former chief producer of ABC’s “Good Morning America” ​​was charged in a lawsuit Wednesday with sexually assaulting two female employees and fostering a toxic work environment on the show as the network “turned a blind eye in the other direction”.

Kirstyn Crawford, a producer of the morning show, alleged that Michael Corn assaulted her in 2015 while on a business trip to cover the Oscars in Los Angeles, according to the lawsuit filed in state court. New York and obtained by NBC News. The lawsuit also alleges that Corn assaulted former ABC News producer Jill McClain in 2010 and 2011 during two separate business trips.

ABC is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit, which alleges the network had received complaints from women about Corn’s alleged abuse dating back at least a decade, but did nothing to stop it.

Crawford claimed ABC learned of the alleged assault on her in 2017, but “did nothing” to protect her “or remove Corn from her position of power.”

“Instead, ABC looked the other way, raised Corn through the ranks because of his commercial success as a producer,” according to the lawsuit.

“Between 2010 and 2021, Corn also created and perpetuated a toxic work environment fraught with discrimination and marginalization of women, including verbal and physical abuse, unwelcome sexualized comments and harassment.”

In a statement released by Elizabeth Locke, his lawyer, Corn “vehemently” denied any allegation that he “had improper sexual contact with another woman” and produced a series of emails between Crawford and Corn which, according to Locke, “demonstrate that these claims are completely and patently false.

Crawford’s lawsuit also alleges that Corn sexually assaulted McClain during a Los Angeles Red Eye in New York in 2010 and in 2011 when they traveled to London to cover the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. At the time, Corn and McClain were working for “ABC News Tonight”.

Although the allegations made by McClain are too old to press charges against Corn and ABC, she includes them in support of Crawford’s case, according to the lawsuit.

“For Kirstyn and Jill, who supports her, the healing process has begun,” Crawford’s attorney Milton Williams Jr. said in a statement on Wednesday.

Corn also denied McClain’s claims, calling them “fabricated.”

“After allegedly touching her on a plane, Jill repeatedly booked our future plane trip to sit next to me, she invited me to her wedding – including a pre-wedding event limited to her. immediate family and closest friends – and she has told me and my wife over and over again that she misses me after leaving her job at ABC. These are not the words and actions of a woman who was assaulted, ”Corn said in a statement.

Crawford, who the lawsuit claims is a “lead producer” of Stephanopoulos, has made no further public comment.

“We are committed to maintaining a safe and supportive work environment and have a process in place that thoroughly reviews and deals with complaints filed. ABC News disputes the allegations made against it and will address this matter in court, ”ABC News said in a statement.

Corn, who had run “GMA” since 2014 and helped turn it into a rating giant, abruptly left the company in April just before former CBS News executive Kim Godwin took over as ABC chairman. News.

He now works for Nexstar’s NewsNation. “We have no comment on anything that may or may not have happened prior to Mr. Corn’s hiring at Nexstar,” a company spokesperson said.

Josh Cradduck contributed.