Tavis Smiley Sues PBS For Firing Him Tavis Smiley is swinging back at PBS after they canned him and cancelled his 14-year-run talk show over multiple instances of sexual misconduct. The talk show host has filed a lawsuit against the network, claiming that the allegations against him were “trumped up” in an attempt to push him out for other reasons. If you’ll recall, Smiley was suspended from the network back in December. He almost immediately he admitted to having multiple sexual relationships with some of his female subordinates, sometimes even telling them in the interview process that he’d much rather date them than hire them…but still somehow defended his actions as not at all creepy or inappropriate . Either way, he was officially fired before the beginning of the new year. However, in his lawsuit, he claims that all his in-office booty-chasing had nothing to do with the “real” reason he was canned by the network. According to TMZ , Smiley claims in a new lawsuit that there was always racial tension at PBS. He says network bigwigs routinely: “…hassled Mr. Smiley when he had African American guests who espoused controversial positions and effectively tried to stop any such guests from appearing.” Meanwhile, PBS says this whole thing is a pathetic attempt to distract the public from the revelation of Tavis’ nastiness, and it’s absolutely “ridiculous and false” to claim that their decision was based on anything else. We’ll see how far this suit goes. Bottom line…you generally can’t smash half the office and think it will all be okay forever. Splash/Getty
Tavis Smiley is still defending his decision to have multiple “relationships” with women who worked for him on his now-suspended PBS talk show…despite the fact that it appears to have built a climate where those who refused his advances could expect to be treated more harshly, given work below their abilities, and/or eventually fired. When asked about his multiple sexual relationships with subordinates , Tavis said: In my employee handbook we do not encourage interoffice relationships, but we don’t forbid it either because I don’t know how things are going to turn out in your life and you start hanging out with our company. I don’t know who you’re going to meet. And let’s face it, nobody’s working 40-hour weeks anymore. We are working 40-, 50-, 70-, 80-hour weeks. Where else are you going to meet people in this business? Interesting…what do you think of Tavis defending his perceived creepiness? YouTube/Getty
Source: Earl Gibson III / Getty Yes, him too. PBS announced on Wednesday that they have suspended Tavis Smiley on allegations of sexual harassment. According to Variety , PBS put out the following statement about the situation: “Effective today, PBS has indefinitely suspended distribution of ‘Tavis Smiley,’ produced by TS Media, an independent production company,” the public broadcaster said. “PBS engaged an outside law firm to conduct an investigation immediately after learning of troubling allegations regarding Mr. Smiley. This investigation included interviews with witnesses as well as with Mr. Smiley. The inquiry uncovered multiple, credible allegations of conduct that is inconsistent with the values and standards of PBS, and the totality of this information led to today’s decision.” Sources told Variety that the law firm in charge of the investigation took reports from 10 witnesses, a diverse men and women from different races and employment levels within Smiley’s organization. However, most of them former staffers. But what PBS found was eye-opening and they believe the following accounts are credible: Smiley engaged in sexual relationships with multiple employees who worked underneath him. Some witnesses interviewed expressed concern that their employment status was linked to the status of a sexual relationship with Smiley. In addition, witnesses described Smiley as creating a verbally abusive and threatening environment that went beyond what could be expected in a typical high-pressure work environment. Several expressed concerns about retaliation if they came forward or reported his behavior to higher ups. Of course, Smiley is denying all of these allegations. In a video he posted on social media on Wednesday night, he stressed that he respects women and he has never coerced them into sex. My response to PBS suspension full text here: https://t.co/SzcQLfQWeX pic.twitter.com/8KX2QIr59B — Tavis Smiley (@tavissmiley) December 14, 2017 “I have the utmost respect for women and celebrate the courage of those who have come forth to tell their truth. To be clear, I have never groped, coerced, or exposed myself inappropriately to any workplace colleague in my entire broadcast career, covering 6 networks over 30 years.” Smiley added, “If having a consensual relationship with a colleague years ago is the stuff that leads to this kind of public humiliation and personal destruction, heaven help us. The PBS investigators refused to review any of my personal documentation, refused to provide me the names of any accusers, refused to speak to my current staff, and refused to provide me any semblance of due process to defend myself against allegations from unknown sources. Their mind was made up. Almost immediately following the meeting, this story broke in Variety as an “exclusive.” Indeed, I learned more about these allegations reading the Variety story than the PBS investigator shared with me, the accused, in our 3 hour face to face meeting. My attorneys were sent a formal letter invoking a contractual provision to not distribute my programming, and that was it. Put simply, PBS overreacted and conducted a biased and sloppy investigation, which led to a rush to judgment, and trampling on a reputation that I have spent an entire lifetime trying to establish. This has gone too far. And, I, for one, intend to fight back. It’s time for a real conversation in America, so men and women know how to engage in the workplace. I look forward to actively participating in that conversation.” This is a developing story and we will provide updates as they become available. RELATED NEWS: Russell Simmons Accused Of Rape By Three New Women In New York Times Report Russell Simmons Steps Down From Businesses After New Sexual Assault Accusation Revealed Actor Harold Perrineau Issues Statement On Daughter Aurora Perrineau’s Rape: ‘I Am in the Presence of a Warrior’ [ione_media_gallery src=”https://hellobeautiful.com” id=”2969052″ overlay=”true”]
PBS host Tavis Smiley‘s conversation with Larry King will air later tonight (April 7). The two will probably converse on many topics, and one will be FOX’s hit…
Benedict Cumberbatch is both very sorry and very embarrassed. Last week, the Oscar-nominated star was discussing the state of African-American actors in Great Britain with Tavis Smiley when he remarked: “As far as colored actors go, it gets really difficult in the U.K..” referring to the success of those such as Chiwetel Ejiofor and David Oyelowo in 12 Years a Slave and Selma, respectively. While Cumberbatch may have had his heart in the right place, he was subsequently criticized for using such an outdated term, prompting an apology from the man behind Sherlock. “I’m devastated to have caused offense by using this outmoded terminology,” he said. “I make no excuse for my being an idiot and know the damage is done. I can only hope this incident will highlight the need for correct usage of terminology that is accurate and inoffensive.” The Imitation Game star concluded: “The most shaming aspect of this for me is that I was talking about racial inequality in the performing arts in the U.K. and the need for rapid improvements in our industry when I used the term.” What do you think, fans? Should all be forgiven now? Debut Roles of 2015 Oscar Nominees 1. Benedict Cumberbatch It’s raining in London in this photograph. But beloved star Benedict Cumberbatch has found a way to keep dry.
Bernie Goldberg Tells “O’Reilly Factor” Liberals Won’t Criticize Beyoncé Because She’s Black So after Jon Stewart put Mike Huckabee in his place for trying to demonize Beyoncé, Bill O’Reilly called his boy Bernie Goldberg on his show “The O’Reilly Factor” to explain why liberals aren’t down for the witch hunt. Things went a little left when Goldberg brought race into the equation. Here are Goldberg’s exact words: “Liberals would rather drink Drano and walk on broken glass than come off as uncool or square or prudish especially when it’s about sex. So they won’t align themselves with social conservatives even when social conservatives have a legitimate point and the fact that Beyonce is black is not irrelevant either.” We doubt Beyoncé’s blackness has anything to do with it. The crazy part is that plenty of black people do have issues with young girls listening to “Partition” but it’s not like Bey’s ENTIRE catalogue is full of “Monica Lewinsky” references! Video via Media Matters WENN
8 Black People Who Hate On Barack Obama Barack Obama hasn’t been close to the perfect President. He’s deserved his fair share of criticism but he also has done plenty right with the country. But that hasn’t stopped the haters from coming after him. And some of those haters are Black. These Black people have earned the slander of Black America for their hatred spewed at the President.
Twitter Starts #SadTavis Trending Topic Tavis Smiley has been enjoying his anti-Obama campaign for six years now, talked incredibly reckless about our President. Well, it appears as though Twitter finally had enough of the BS. Recently they launched a #SadTavis hashtag that went global. These tweets are hilarious and probably did make Tavis actually sad. Too bad, buddy.
