Vice Media Under Fire for Rampant Sexual Misconduct Allegations, the 'New York Times' Reports
Several months after allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein began a wave of change regarding how sexual harassment allegations are handled at work, Vice Media has become the subject of a new New York Times investigation. The report, published December 23, shone light on four sexual harassment or defamation settlements and published more than two dozen further allegations by current and former employees who say they’ve witnessed or experienced sexual misconduct at the hands of Vice employees and executives.
According to the Times, the publication’s president, Andrew Creighton, allegedly fired an employee for rejecting his advances, for which he reportedly paid a $135,000 settlement in 2016. The Times also reports that Vice reached a settlement after former head of Vice News Jason Mojica allegedly punished a female employee after they got involved sexually. He was fired in November. In January 2016, the company settled with a woman who alleged that Vice producer Rhys James asked her if she had sex with black men and what color her nipples were; James was put on leave last month. Lastly, Vice reportedly settled in 2003 with a writer who said the publication falsely wrote that she agreed to sleep with a rapper she interviewed. In addition, a woman interviewed by the Times described a coworker putting her hand on his crotch outside of work. Still another alleged she was the target of unwanted kissing.
“We have failed as a company to create a safe and inclusive workplace where everyone, especially women, can feel respected and thrive,” Vice co-founders Shane Smith and Suroosh Alvi said in a statement to Vice staff. “Cultural elements from our past, dysfunction, and mismanagement were allowed to flourish unchecked. That includes a detrimental ‘boy’s club’ culture that fostered inappropriate behavior that permeated throughout the company.”
In response to the allegations, Vice fired three employees, brought on a new human resources leader, created a Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Board that includes Gloria Steinem, and issued a prohibition on supervisors dating people working under them.
“The misogyny might look different than you would have expected it to in the 1950s, but it was still there, it was still ingrained,” Kayla Ruble, a journalist who worked for Vice from 2014 to 2016, told The New York Times. “This is a wakeup call.”
Related: Powerful People in Entertainment Who Have Been Accused of Sexual Harassment or Assault