July, 30 2018, 12:00am EDT
"It's About Stopping This Behavior" -- CBS Must Suspend Les Moonves
Statement by NOW President Toni Van Pelt
WASHINGTON
Emmy-award winning writer and producer Dinah Kirgo, one of six women who have come forward with charges of sexual harassment against CBS CEO and chairman Les Moonves, told NPR that she is not trying to end the executive's career as much as she is trying to change a culture that enables such misconduct.
"People think that we're trying to take these guys down, and that is, at least in my case, that is so not true. It's about stopping this behavior."
We agree and we stand in solidarity with her How many more stories do we need to read about a powerful boss who thinks he can aggressively kiss, or pin down on a couch, or make sexual remarks to a woman with no consequences and no reckoning?
Enough is enough - those days are over. The #MeToo and #TimesUp movements cannot be stopped, and they will not stop until we end this culture of abuse against women.
Toxic men like Les Moonves must know they can no longer prey on vulnerable women over whom they wield tremendous power in the workplace. Les Moonves shouldn't be at work today and he shouldn't come into the office tomorrow. CBS must suspend Les Moonves and conduct an independent, outside investigation into his behavior.
Les Moonves received $68.4 million in 2017 for his role as chief executive and chairman of the CBS board of directors. The women he is accused of harassing are paying a terrible price. How much will CBS pay the women for their loss of wages, career advancement and prestige caused by CBS' protection of powerful men. They are the ones that deserve CBS' attention, financial remuneration and care today--not Les Moonves.
It's time we change the norm. Our silence ends now.
The National Organization for Women (NOW) is the largest organization of feminist activists in the United States. NOW has 500,000 contributing members and 550 chapters in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
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Despite the Pentagon's repeated failures to pass audits and various alarming policies, 81 Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives voted with 200 Republicans on Wednesday to advance a $883.7 billion annual defense package.
The Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2025, unveiled by congressional negotiators this past Saturday, still needs approval from the Senate, which is expected to vote next week. U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Wednesday that he plans to vote no and spoke out against the military-industrial complex.
The push to pass the NDAA comes as this congressional session winds down and after the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) announced last month that it had failed yet another audit—which several lawmakers highlighted after the Wednesday vote.
Reps. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), co-chairs and co-founders of the Defense Spending Reduction Caucus, said in a joint statement, "Time and time again, Congress seems to be able to find the funds necessary to line the pockets of defense contractors while neglecting the problems everyday Americans face here at home."
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