ABC News' George Stephanopoulos and Robin Roberts fighting over sexual harassment lawsuit

(Paula Lobo/ABC via AP)

Last week a longtime producer for ABC’s Good Morning America named Michael Corn was sued for allegedly sexually assaulting at least two women he worked with. The lawsuit also claims that ABC’s George Stephanopoulos knew about the allegations since 2017 but “did nothing” about it.

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

Crawford claimed that ABC learned of the alleged assault on her in 2017 but “did nothing” to protect her “or remove Corn from his position of power.” She said that while “GMA” host George Stephanopoulos urged her to report the alleged assault, then-senior director of publicity for “GMA” Heather Riley “cautioned Crawford that reporting the assault and harassment might get ‘messy,'” according to the lawsuit. Riley is now vice president of crisis management.

Corn has denied the allegations but he left the company in April. The lawsuit claims that’s because an internal investigation found the allegations against him credible, i.e. he jumped before he was pushed. NBC had a follow-up story saying that morale at the company is very low:

NBC News spoke to a dozen current and former employees at ABC News, many of whom said the statement released Wednesday in response to a lawsuit filed against former GMA chief Michael Corn and ABC News was “offensive” and made them question whether they still wanted to work for the network.

“Morale is beyond low,” said one woman who has worked at ABC News for years, who asked not to be named in order to discuss internal matters. “Women are questioning why they are still at ABC because they are all so disgusted. It’s a company they don’t want to work for anymore.”

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One of the women who is clearly not happy with how this was handled is Stephanopoulos’ co-host Robin Roberts:

GMA staffers discussed the lawsuit on a team-wide call, during which a clearly emotional Roberts declared, “If this happened to someone on my team, I would have burned the place down,” according to multiple people who were present for the meeting.

Staffers who heard the remark said it was unsubtly directed at Stephanopoulos, who, according to the lawsuit, had been informed of Crawford’s sexual assault allegations almost four years ago and continued to work with Corn…

The comment quickly made its way back to Stephanopoulos, who was “livid,” according to the people familiar…

Roberts remains “incensed” about ABC’s handling of the allegations as well as her co-host’s actions (or lack thereof), and has made her feelings known to bosses, according to colleagues who have spoken with her in recent days.

Yes, who could have guessed a man whose first career was helping a guy nicknamed “slick Willie” get elected president would downplay or ignore allegations of sexual harassment? This guy?

Stephanopoulos would later make waves by openly wondering whether Clinton was telling the truth about Monica Lewinsky but that was near the end of Clinton’s tenure. Early on he was all denial as you can see above.

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So George can be livid all he wants but it appears he was personally told about this allegation back in 2017 and he told two other people about it and then let it drop and continued to work with Corn as if nothing had happened. As Robin Roberts accurately pointed out, he didn’t exactly burn the place down even in the midst of the #MeToo push that was engulfing other networks at the time.

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Ed Morrissey 10:00 PM | November 22, 2024
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