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Mike Bloomberg, Women, and Sexual Harassment Allegations: An Explainer


DeMarse has also not commented on the booklet—she has signed a non-disclosure agreement.

“Kill it”

Sekiko Sakai Garrison, a Bloomberg employee from 1989 until her firing in 1995, who led the sales of Bloomberg Terminals, sued Bloomberg and his company after being fired, according to documents published by the Washington Post. She claimed in her lawsuit that male Bloomberg employees from the CEO on down “engaged in a pattern and practice of sexual harassment, sexual degradation of women, and discrimination,” that she and other saleswomen were encouraged by Bloomberg and other male employees to wear “sexually provocative” clothing, and that she endured personal comments about her Japanese nationality.

According to the suit, when Garrison told Bloomberg of her pregnancy in 1995, Bloomberg told her to “kill it!” and that he repeated the comment when she asked him to, sure she had misheard it. Another former Bloomberg staffer, David Zielenziger, told the Washington Post that he heard Bloomberg say “Are you going to kill it?” to Garrison, in response to her pregnancy. “He talked kind of crudely about women all the time,” Zielenziger said. Another Bloomberg employee confirmed to the paper that Garrison reported the interaction to him at the time, though he didn’t overhear it personally.

In the lawsuit, Garrison claimed that she had heard Bloomberg make a series of similarly inappropriate statements:

To a female employee after a disappointing business meeting:
“If [the clients] told you to lay down and strip naked so they could fuck you, would you do that too?”

To a group of female employees after a male employee announced his engagement:
“All of you girls line up to give him a blow job as a wedding present.”

To Garrison, when she wasn’t included in a photo opportunity:
“Why didn’t they ask you to be in the picture? I guess they saw your face.”

To a female employee struggling to secure childcare:
“It’s a fucking baby! All you need is some black who doesn’t even have to speak English to rescue it from a burning building.”

Bloomberg denied the allegations, and said that he was cleared by a polygraph test, but did not release the test. Bloomberg and Garrison reached a settlement. She has signed a non-disclosure agreement.

“I’d like to do that piece of meat.”

Mary Ann Olszewski sued Bloomberg LP in 1996, according to documents published by Business Insider. She claimed in the suit that “Bloomberg, through its male managers and employees from Chief Executive Officer Michael Bloomberg on down, engaged in a pattern and practice of sexual harassment and sexual degradation of women.” In the suit she alleges that she heard Bloomberg make comments including, “I’d like to do that piece of meat,” and that Bloomberg repeatedly tried to look up her skirt. Olszewski’s suit also seems to corroborate Garrison’s allegation, when it cites Bloomberg saying, “Kill it” to Garrison when he learned of her pregnancy. But the most significant subject of the suit is her claims that she was raped by another Bloomberg employee during a trip she made on behalf of the company. (Garrison’s suit also alleges that Olszewski was sexually harassed and raped.)

According to the Olszewski’s suit, she reported the rape and asked to be re-assigned but was fired shortly after. In a deposition excerpted in the Village Voice, Bloomberg cast doubt on Olszewski’s story, saying, “My personal belief is that we have an allegation without proof.” He said that “satisfactory proof” that Olszewski’s allegation was “genuine” would be “an unimpeachable third-party witness.” When pressed to explain how there could possibly be such a witness, he said “There are times when three people are together.”

According to the Village Voice, the case was dismissed after Olszewski’s attorney missed a filing deadline.

“Drugged and raped”

Margaret Doe is the pseudonym of a woman who sued Bloomberg and Bloomberg LP in 2016, according to documents published by Business Insider. According to the suit, she was “drugged and raped”, and “tormented” by another Bloomberg employee. Doe sued Bloomberg as well as the company which, according to the complaint, had a rampant “drug culture,” and she further accused Bloomberg of encouraging “sexist and sexually charged behavior.” Bloomberg, Bloomberg LP, and the employee have all denied Doe’s allegations, and a judge removed Bloomberg from the suit.

Bloomberg—a New Yorker, billionaire, businessman—has billed himself in election materials as a Good Guy version of Trump. He even spent campaign ads skewering Trump for calling Hillary Clinton “such a nasty woman.” Maybe soon, Trump will run ads featuring Bloomberg’s on the record comments on a random woman’s ass.

Jenny Singer is a staff writer for Glamour. You can follow her on Twitter.





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In Open Letter, More Than 100 Models Urge Victoria’s Secret to Take a Stand Against Sexual Harassment in Fashion


A new petition urging Victoria’s Secret to take a stand against acts of sexual harassment and violence has been signed by more than 100 models, many of whom have worked with the brand in the past.

In an open letter written by the Model Alliance and addressed to Victoria’s Secret CEO John Mehas, current and former runway stars call on the company to take a role in remedying sexual harassment, citing “numerous allegations of sexual assault, alleged rape, and sex trafficking of models and aspiring models,” as several photographers associated with the company have been accused of misconduct, plus the links between various L Brands executives—including company head Leslie Wexner—and convicted sex offender and former financier Jeffrey Epstein. (Sara Ziff, the founder of Model Alliance, has written about Epstein in the past.)

It has already been signed by Christy Turlington Burns, Doutzen Kroes, Milla Jovovich, Gemma Ward, Carolyn Murphy, Caitriona Balfe, Karen Elson, among others. Time’s Up has also co-signed.

“In the past few weeks, we have heard numerous allegations of sexual assault, alleged rape, and sex trafficking of models and aspiring models. While these allegations may not have been aimed at Victoria’s Secret directly, it is clear that your company has a crucial role to play in remedying the situation,” the letter reads. “From the headlines about L Brands CEO Leslie Wexner’s close friend and associate, Jeffrey Epstein, to the allegations of sexual misconduct by photographers Timur Emek, David Bellemere, and Greg Kadel, it is deeply disturbing that these men appear to have leveraged their working relationships with Victoria’s Secret to lure and abuse vulnerable girls.”

In the letter, the Model Alliance pointed to the position Victoria’s Secret holds in the industry and its platform as a means to combat abuses in the industry: “We are calling on Victoria’s Secret to take meaningful action to protect its talent and those who aspire to work with the company. Victoria’s Secret has the opportunity to be a leader, to use its power and influence to bring about the changes that are urgently needed in our industry. Every day, fashion brands, publishing companies, and agencies set the norms of what’s acceptable and what’s not in fashion. If Victoria’s Secret were to take a stand against these abuses and commit to meaningful change by joining the RESPECT Program, this would go a long way in helping our industry chart a new path forward.”



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Ashley Judd’s Sexual Harassment Case Against Harvey Weinstein Was Just Dismissed


Actress Ashley Judd was one of the first women to publicly speak out against former movie mogul Harvey Weinstein and in May of last year she filed a lawsuit against him alleging that her career was damaged by lies he spread about her in Hollywood after she spurned his sexual advances.

On January 9, a federal judge in California dismissed a portion of her suit, stating that her sexual harassment allegations did not fall within a specific legal statute. According to the New York Times, Judge Philip Gutierrez’s order was clear in saying that he was not ruling as to whether or not Judd as sexually harassed “in the colloquial sense of the term” but that the law could not be applied because she did not have a “specific business arrangement” with Weinstein at the time, which is a legal requirement.

So basically, the judge is not saying that Judd’s claim that Weinstein appeared in a bathrobe during a business meeting and asked her to let him massage her and watch him shower didn’t happen, just that it’s not sexual harassment under the California law because recent changes to the statue mandate that sexual harassment only applies if there is a specific business relationship between the parties. (The judge also did not state that it did happen.) That sounds like a pretty messed up law to me, especially given that Judd says the meeting was indeed about business.

Weinstein has continued to deny Judd’s accusations. “We have said from the beginning that this claim was unjustified, and we are pleased that the court saw it as we did,” Phyllis Kupferstein, one of Weinstein’s lawyers, said in a statement. “We believe that we will ultimately prevail on her remaining claims.”

Despite the recent setback, Judd is continuing with the rest of her case. “Nothing about today’s ruling changes that Ms. Judd’s case is moving forward on multiple claims,” Theodore J. Boutrous Jr., her lead attorney, said in a statement to the Times.



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Eliza Dushku Received A $9.5 Million Settlement From CBS Over Sexual Harassment Complaints Involving Michael Weatherly


CBS has been rocked by serious allegations of misconduct made against its former chief executive Leslie Moonves and former anchor Charlie Rose, and this week, it found itself at the center of yet another sexual harassment scandal, this time involving actress Eliza Dushku.

The New York Times published an article on Thursday that reports that in January 2018, amid a national conversation around MeToo and workplace misconduct, the network paid Dushku $9.5 million to settle complaints for being written off the series Bull—something that happened after she had confronted the show’s star Michael Weatherly for making inappropriate comments to her about rape, a threesome, and her physical appearance, according to documents reviewed by the Times.

According to internal CBS investigation reports](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/13/business/media/cbs-bull-weatherly-dushku-sexual-harassment.html) obtained and reviewed by the Times, Dushku had signed on to do three episodes of Bull, and there had been plans for her to join the cast as a series regular. However, reports show that she felt uncomfortable after Weatherly made remarks in front of the show’s cast and crew about her appearance, including saying on one occasion that “he would bend her over his leg and spank her.” Dushku also told CBS investigators that he made a crack about having a threesome with her and another male cast member, and at another point joked about taking her into his “rape van.”

Dushku reportedly confronted Weatherly about his behavior and, shortly after, she was written off the show. Believing she’d been forced off in retaliation for complaining about Weatherly, the Times says Dushku entered a mediation process with CBS. The network launched an internal investigation, during which the Times claims that CBS’ chief compliance officer Mark Engstrom submitted footage of Dushku cursing on set, purportedly to undermine her complaints. However, investigators wrote in their report that the outtakes were a “gold mine” since they “actually captured some of the harassment on film.” The network eventually agreed to pay Dushku roughly what she would have earned if she had stayed on the show for four seasons, and the terms of the settlement prohibited her from speaking publicly about her experiences.

In a statement to The Times, CBS confirmed the settlement.

“The allegations in Ms. Dushku’s claims are an example that, while we remain committed to a culture defined by a safe, inclusive and respectful workplace, our work is far from done,” CBS said in a statement. “The settlement of these claims reflects the projected amount that Ms. Dushku would have received for the balance of her contract as a series regular, and was determined in a mutually agreed upon mediation process at the time.”

In another statement, Weatherly admitted that he had made “some jokes mocking some lines in the script” that had made Dushku uncomfortable, and apologized for his behavior.

“When Eliza told me that she wasn’t comfortable with my language and attempt at humor, I was mortified to have offended her and immediately apologized. After reflecting on this further, I better understand that what I said was both not funny and not appropriate and I am sorry and regret the pain this caused Eliza,” he said.

At least one incident on the set left Dushku feeling “disgusting and violated,” according to the investigation notes. Dushku’s settlement came to light as part of a company review conducted by the law firms Covington & Burling and Debevoise & Plimpton, and ordered by CBS, after multiple women came forward to accuse Moonves of misconduct. Moonves stepped down from CBS in September, but the company board still has to decide if he will receive a $120 million severance package that many women have said he does not deserve. CBS also fired “60 Minutes” producer Jeff Fager this year, following complaints that he had harassed women at work and sent a threatening text to a reporter. The incident with Dushku is another that points to a culture of harassment and misconduct at the network.



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Sophia Bush Opens Up About the Alleged Harassment She Faced on the *One Tree Hill* Set


Back in November, in the midst of the Harvey Weinstein scandal and the rise of the #MeToo movement, members of the cast and crew of One Tree Hill—including Sophia Bush and Hilarie Burton—released a letter accusing the creator of that show, Mark Schwahn, of sexual harassment.

“Many of us were, to varying degrees, manipulated psychologically and emotionally. More than one of us is still in treatment for post-traumatic stress,” the letter read. “Many of us were put in uncomfortable positions and had to swiftly learn to fight back, sometimes physically, because it was made clear to us that the supervisors in the room were not the protectors they were supposed to be. Many of us were spoken to in ways that ran the spectrum from deeply upsetting, to traumatizing, to downright illegal. And a few of us were put in positions where we felt physically unsafe.”

Now, in a new interview with Andy Cohen, Bush is taking the conversation even further, describing a time she says Schwahn touched her inappropriately. “The first time Mark Schwahn grabbed my ass I hit him in front of six other producers and I hit him fucking hard,” she told Cohen. “And he came back to L.A. and I was told years later by one of the then writers who became an EP that he came back being like, ‘That fucking entitled bitch who does she think she is,’ and this very sweet man named Mike who I love and who is like a ride or die for me was like, ‘Maybe you just shouldn’t touch the girls,’ and, ya know, Mark gave him the option of shut up and keep your job or get out.”

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Bush found herself in a difficult situation: quit and “kill” her career or stay in an uncomfortable workplace. “Because this is what people don’t understand, they go, ‘Oh well why don’t you just leave?’” she says. “First of all, why am I supposed to suffer and kill my own career because somebody else can’t keep their dick in their pants? Second of all, there is a whole crew that people don’t know about.”

Bush stayed, and Schwahn helmed One Tree Hill for eight seasons. However, after the OTH allegations were made, additional ones were levied against him by the cast and crew of The Royals. He was investigated and subsequently fired from that show in December.



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Salma Hayek: Harvey Weinstein Dismissed My Harassment Claims Because Women of Color Are 'the Easiest to Discredit'


In the wake of an explosive report in The New York Times outlining numerous sexual harassment and abuse allegations against film industry titan Harvey Weinstein, Salma Hayek wrote an op-ed for The Times in which she accused Weinstein of sexual harassment during the making of the 2002 film “Frida.” (Hayek starred as the title character.) She also said that Weinstein had threatened to kill her.

Weinstein’s lawyers denied the claims made by Hayek, stating: “All of the sexual allegations as portrayed by Salma are not accurate and others who witnessed the events have a different account of what transpired.”

Weinstein’s team has been dismissive of other claims—for example, when actress Lupita Nyong’o came forward with sexual harassment allegations of her own against the Hollywood producer.

While the two incidents may have appeared to be isolated, at the Women In Motion panel at Cannes on Sunday, May 13, Hayek argued that Weinstein had been especially dismissive of allegations made by herself and Nyong’o because they are both women of color.

“We are the easiest to get discredited,” she said, according to Variety. “It is a well-known fact. So he went back, attacking the two women of color, in hopes that if he could discredit us.”

Hayek’s candidness surrounding Weinstein’s actions wasn’t the only form of protest exercised at the film festival this past weekend. On Saturday evening (May 12), 82 women, including Hayek, silently protested the significant gender imbalance present at Cannes. The 82 women in attendance were a symbolic representation of the 82 female directors who have screened at the festival since its first edition in 1946.

“On these steps today stand 82 women representing the number of female directors who have climbed these stairs since the first edition of the Cannes Film Festival in 1946,” actress Cate Blanchett, this year’s competition jury president, and Belgian film director Agnès Varda said in a joint statement. “In the same period 1,688 male directors have climbed these very same stairs. In the 71 years of this world-renowned festival there have been 12 female heads of its juries. The prestigious Palme d’Or has been bestowed upon 71 male directors—too numerous to mention by name—but only two women, Jane Campion, who is with us in spirit, and Agnès Varda, who stands with us today.”

While protests like this one, coupled with the rising resilience of the Time’s Up and #MeToo movements, are making some traction, Hayek warned in the Cannes panel against complacency in Hollywood and beyond: “Now is the time for action.”

Related Content:

Cannes to Launch Sexual Harassment Hotline Following Harvey Weinstein and #MeToo

Ava DuVernay, Kristen Stewart, and 80 More Women Just Took Part in a Powerful Protest at Cannes

Post-Weinstein, These Are the Powerful Men Facing Sexual Harassment Allegations



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