The potential $120 million exit package for ousted CBS boss Les Moonves is looking more shaky after a bombshell New York Times story detailed the former CEOs efforts to outrun and evade investigations into his sexual misconduct.
A lengthy article posted this afternoon and bylined by three Times writers captures the increasing anxiety by Moonves as allegations from his past came to light.
CBS has declined to comment on the storys revelations. Because the September exit of Moonves is still fresh, and investigations into his conduct are still ongoing, there are apt to be repercussions from the piece.
The article centers on the link between Moonves and talent manager Marv Dauer, who represented up-and-coming clients including Bobbie Phillips, an actress who was 25 when she signed with Dauer. After Dauer arranged a meeting in 1995 with Moonves, who was then president of Warner Bros. Television and already the corporate force behind hits like ER and Friends. During the meeting, Phillips says he exposed himself and tried to force her to have oral sex.
In a statement to the Times, Moonves said, “I strongly believe that the sexual encounter with Ms. Phillips more than 20 years ago was consensual.” A publicist for Moonves did not immediately reply to messages from Deadline seeking comment.
Along with the specific allegations by Phillips, text messages exchanged between Moonves and Dauer. Moonves deleted them from iPad, investigators discovered, but Dauer kept them on his end. He also gave sworn statements about the text exchanges to the two law firms investigating Moonves.
“I think Ill be O.K., But if Bobbie talks, Im done,” Moonves texted Dauer early on. A Times reporter got a tip soon after the #MeToo movement accelerated last fall, months before the New Yorkers Ronan Farrow would publish two separate articles that proved to be the undoing of the mogul.
The text exchanges and other details revealed by the Times show a pattern of Moonves trying to cast Phillips in a plum role in an effort to silence her.
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