CBS board turned against Les Moonves after learning he was trying to silence an accuser with a CBS job offer

The New York Times

The New York Times reports the former CBS CEO's support ran deep on the CBS board of directors, with one director, Arnold Kopelson, reportedly saying: “I don’t care if 30 more women come forward and allege this kind of stuff. Les is our leader and it wouldn’t change my opinion of him.” The Times' James B. Stewart reports that board members ultimately changed their minds upon learning that Moonves had misled them. "What these directors didn’t learn until nearly two weeks later, according to a CBS director and people close to the board, is that one of Mr. Moonves’s accusers was threatening to go public with her claims," reports Stewart. "Instead of reporting the situation, Mr. Moonves was in the process of trying to find the woman a job at CBS in order to gain her continued silence. When the board learned about this, even Mr. Moonves’s staunchest backers were stunned. Their belief in his credibility was shattered given his previous denials of anything untoward, these people said. In the end, it was the evidence that Mr. Moonves had misled his board — even more than the allegations of abuse from multiple women — that doomed him." The board decided it could terminate Moonves for cause, but opted to delay its firing until after its investigation was complete. "Some CBS directors had hoped to announce Mr. Moonves’s departure before the latest New Yorker article appeared, but the board missed that opportunity," says Stewart, adding: "Hours after the story appeared Sunday, the company said it would pay $20 million of anything: "Whatever the outcome of CBS’s continuing investigations, board members said that it’s all but certain that the company will pay Mr. Moonves nothing."

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