“CBS This Morning” co-host Norah O’Donnell on Monday addressed the forced resignation of network CEO Les Moonves, which came on Sunday just hours after seven new women accused the media mogul of sexual harassment or assault.
“He was my boss and that makes it really hard to comment on it,” she said at the top of Monday’s broadcast.
“Les has always treated me fairly and with respect,” O’Donnell said. “Still, it’s been for me another sleepless night thinking about this, the pain that women feel, the courage that it takes for women to come forward and talk about this.”
She mentioned an offscreen conversation with co-host Gayle King, who was not on set on Monday, about how the news comes just 10 months after the ouster of “CBS This Morning” co-anchor Charlie Rose last November after sexual misconduct accusations against him.
“But Gayle sorta said, ‘Yeah, but I didn’t think we’d still be the story in September,'” she said. “Ten months later and we’re still talking about this.”
She added, “There is no excuse for this alleged behavior. It’s systematic and it is pervasive in our culture. And this I know is true, to the core of my being: Women cannot achieve equality in the workplace or in society until there is a reckoning and a taking of responsibility.”
On Sunday, Moonves agreed to step down from the company he has led for decades, though he called the accusations against him “untrue.”
The announcement came just hours after new reports by the New Yorker and Vanity Fair that brought the number of female accusers to 13.
According to “CBS This Morning,” he was offered a severance of $80 million in stock — a deal that is on hold pending the outcome of an investigation by two law firms into the misconduct accusations.
Executive Compensation 2017: Top TV, Film and Tech Bosses Ranked by Pay (Photos)
There's no business like show business, and few bank on that fact yearly quite like Hollywood's top executives.
Scroll through our gallery for to see top TV, film and digital executives ranked by their 2017 executive compensation (updating as more companies release their top execs' packages).
Tim Cook Apple CEO 2016: $8.5 2017: $12.8 Change: +51 percent
Despite the iPhone X receiving a collective "meh," Apple is still cruising under Cook's stewardship; Apple hauled in a record-setting $88.3 billion in revenue during Q4 of 2017.
Bob Bakish Viacom CEO 2016: N/A (Predecessor Philippe Dauman made $93 million, thanks to golden parachute) 2017: $20.3 Million Change: N/A
The man at the opposite end of Moonves' very long (we imagine) negotiating table. Bakish is tight with National Amusements controller Shari Redstone, and both of them want the Viacom chief to be Moonves' No. 2 should the re-merger happen.
Ted Sarandos Netflix Chief Content Officer 2016: $18.9 million 2017: $22.4 million Change: +19%
Netflix added 20 million streamers and unleashed a slew of new content in 2017, including "Icarus," the drugs-in-cycling documentary that went on to win an Oscar. At the same time, its share price jumped 50 percent (before rocketing in 2018). Sarandos should take a bow -- and buy a very nice villa in the Mediterranean with his raise.
Reed Hastings Netflix President, Chairman and CEO 2016: $23.2 million 2017: $24.4 million Change: +5%
The Netflix head honcho joined the billionaire's club for the first time in 2017, thanks in large part to the company's gamble on original content paying off in spades. He's not taking a victory lap yet, though, with the streaming giant still firmly set on taking over Hollywood. At CodeCon 2017, he said he's always telling his content team to "get more aggressive," rather than "drive toward conformity."
Steve Burke NBCUniversal CEO 2016: $46.07 million 2017: $46.5 million Change: +0.9%
Burke's overall take for 2017 was roughly flat compared with 2016, but the NBCUniveral CEO managed to again bring in more than his boss at parent company Comcast.
Jeff Bewkes Time Warner CEO 2016: $32.6 million 2017: $49 million Change: +50%
Bewkes damn near matched his entire 2016 pay in 2017 stock options. Sometimes it's not so terrible for your company to be bought out. (You know, if the DOJ allows it.) Half of the Bewkes stock haul covers 2018, too -- an incentive to stick around through this merger.
Leslie Moonves CBS Chairman, President and CEO 2016: $69.6 million 2017: $69.3 million Change: No material change
CBS has been "America's Most-Watched Network" for more than a decade under Moonves, but is any amount of money worth that headache that this possible realignment with Viacom comes with? OK, still yes.
No one tell Dish Network’s Charlie Ergen what CBS chief Les Moonves made
There's no business like show business, and few bank on that fact yearly quite like Hollywood's top executives.
Scroll through our gallery for to see top TV, film and digital executives ranked by their 2017 executive compensation (updating as more companies release their top execs' packages).
