CBS & Paramount Global Hit With Discrimination & Retaliation Suit By Ex-’60 Minutes’ Producer; Alleges “Toxic Environment” Against Women At Network
A former 60 Minutes producer claims she was falsely fired from the long running newsmagazine show last year, and now she’s suing CBS, CBS News and parent company Paramount Global for discrimination – and naming a lot of names.
In a vast ranging complaint filed today in federal court in New York, Alexandra Poolos says she was axed from 60 Minutes in early 2022 after 10 award winning years because an allegedly untruthful and self-serving colleague accused her of being too aggressive in the workplace.
Poolos and her Vladeck, Raskin & Clark P.C. lawyers assert she was stitched up due to the “sexism and misogyny that “defined” CBS News, and the network wanted to get rid of her for raising concerns about the behavior of others at the organization. “CBS has a long history of shielding men from answering for their misconduct, including unlawful conduct,” the 46-page filing bluntly states, naming ex-CEO Les Moonves, ex-60 Minutes executive producer Jeff Fager, current 60 Minutes associate producer David Levine and ex-CBS News president Neeraj Khemlani, who left suddenly in August, among others.
Her suit also notes the legal action London-based 60 Minutes associate producer Cassandra Vinograd took in 2019 for CBS allegedly retaliating against her after she complained about the conduct of her boss, producer Michael Gavshon. “Sexism and misogyny defined the workplace of CBS, including CBS News, over many years.” “Poolos was not spared from the toxic environment against women that has long plagued the network,” the suit adds of her stint at 60 Minutes, which debuted back in 1968. “Her former supervisor, Producer Shachar Bar-On, emotionally and verbally abused and sexually harassed Poolos for years,” it states detailing alleged instances of pornography, verbal insults about correspondent Lesley Stahl’s appearance, masturbation and a drunken attempt to get Poolos to “come to his hotel room.” The suit adds: “Throughout Poolos’s tenure, male employees suffered no consequences
