During a Tuesday night segment on the sexual harassment accusations against opera star Placido Domingo, CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell was caught on a hot mic saying what sounded like, “Sounds like somebody else here…”
O’Donnell was overheard during a portion of the report in which Domingo said he believed all relationships in his past were consensual. But her comment was scrubbed from the audio when the clip was uploaded to the CBS website.
You can hear her comment at the 1:45 mark in the video above. Representatives for CBS News had no comment.
CBS has faced plenty of scrutiny during the #MeToo era. O’Donnell’s former “CBS This Morning” co-anchor Charlie Rose was dropped by the network in 2017 after multiple women accused him of sexual misconduct.
“Let me be very clear,” she said at the time. “There is no excuse for this alleged behavior. It is systematic and pervasive and I’ve been doing a lot of listening and I’m going to continue to do that.”
Ryan Kadro, the executive producer of “CBS This Morning,” left the network after a lawsuit in which he was accused of ignoring warnings about Rose. The lawsuit was settled, and terms were not disclosed. A representative said at the time that conversations around his exit were unrelated to the lawsuit.
Rose said in a 2017 statement, after the first accusations against him: “I am greatly embarrassed. I have behaved insensitively at times, and I accept responsibility for that, though I do not believe that all of these allegations are accurate.”
In 2018, while still on “CBS This Morning.” O’Donnell addressed the forced resignation of network CEO Les Moonves, which came after multiple women accused the media mogul of sexual harassment or assault.
She said Moonves had always treated her “fairly and with respect,” but she’d had “another sleepless night” thinking about the accusations against him.
In December 2018, CBS said Moonves would not receive his $120 million severance. He maintained his innocence at that time.
During a panel discussion with TheWrap’s Sharon Waxman in July, O’Donnell spoke about what she called a “new era” at CBS. O’Donnell credited Susan Zirinsky, CBS News’ new president who replaced David Rhodes in January, with moving swiftly to usher in the new era.
“It’s time to move on and do the work,” O’Donnell said.