(Photo by Rob Kim/Getty Images for Cesare Ragazzi)
Jericka Duncan, a reporter for CBS, spoke up about the sexual harassment she’d witnessed from “60 Minutes” executive producer Jeff Fager and he attempted to threaten her job through a text message.
CBS has been having a rough, couple of months. And by rough I mean the rampant sexual harassment and abuse present in the company culture has been exposed and people are being ousted as a result.
It began with Charlie Rose, co-host of “CBS This Morning,“ who was accused of harassing 27 different women—both inside the network and out. The allegations included everything from Rose making lewd phone calls, walking around naked, or groping women’s breasts, behinds and genitals.
Then there was CBS CEO Les Moonves who stepped down from his position at the company after a dozen women claimed he abused or harassed them. These women claimed that Moonves forced sex acts on them. Others said he threatened their careers when women refused his advances. Moonves claimed some of the encounters were consensual.
Now, it’s Fager’s turn.
When Duncan learned of Fager’s behavior, she did what she was supposed to do as a responsible employee and moral human being. She reported his conduct to the network. After Fager learned of Duncan’s report, he sent her a message which Duncan took as a threat to her job.
“If you repeat these false accusations without any of your own reporting to back them up you will be held responsible for harming me… Be careful. There are people who lost their jobs trying to harm me and if you pass on these damaging claims without your own reporting to back them up that will become a serious problem.”
A clear threat.
And when Duncan was asked if she took the message as a threat, she said, “I did.”
She continued, “It’s even hard to say that today because, yes, we do receive harsh language all the time, but this is someone who held an enormous amount of power here, who I respected, and I was shocked,” Duncan said. “I thank everyone here for their support. So many comments, I can’t say that enough about the people within this organization who sent me text message, e-mails, viewers, people on Twitter, so I’m extremely grateful for that.”
Instead of Duncan losing her job, it was Fager who lost his, amid the very allegations that Duncan reported.
Fager has continued to deny the allegations and believes he was fired because of the “harsh” text message he sent to Duncan.
Meanwhile, Duncan spoke about the whole ordeal on CBS in the video below.
