By Ariel Zilber
A bombshell lawsuit claims that CBS’ “60 Minutes” has long been a cesspool of sex harassment — including allegations that star correspondent Lesley Stahl once asked a female job applicant whether she would be willing to “use her body to secure stories.”
Alexandra Poolos, who worked as a producer for more than 10 years at the prestigious TV news program before she was fired in February last year, filed suit against CBS and its corporate parent, Paramount, in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday, alleging rampant “misogyny” at the Tiffany Network.
Among her explosive claims: In 2011, Poolos was interviewed for a job at “60 Minutes” by Stahl, who allegedly inquired whether she would be willing to “use her body to secure stories,” according to the lawsuit.
The suit didn’t elaborate on the allegation.
“Poolos has never heard a [60 Minutes] Correspondent suggest that a man use his body to get a story,” the lawsuit stated.
A CBS spokesperson said, “We are not commenting on pending litigation.”
Stahl didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Poolos alleged in her lawsuit that she “was not spared from the toxic environment against women that has long plagued the network,” and that her former supervisor, producer Shachar Bar-On, “repeatedly subjected Poolos to emotional abuse and sexual harassment over the course of several years.”
That included allegations that Bar-On “made derogatory comments about the physical appearance of other women” including Stahl — adding that he “regularly mocked Stahl’s face and body and referred to her as ‘disgusting,’” according to the complaint.
The suit also cited the firing of former “60 Minutes” showrunner Jeff Fager, who was dismissed in 2018 over sexual misconduct claims leveled against him.
According to the suit, Bar-On’s behavior was no secret in the newsroom — including to Bill Owens, Fager’s successor as executive producer of “60 Minutes,” who allegedly told Poolos that he “had had his own experiences with Bar-On’s ‘temper’ and believed Bar-On had a mood disorder.”
Owens is also alleged to have told Poolos that she “could transfer to another team, but that she would be unable to continue working with Stahl as an Associated Producer.”
Owens then “placed the burden” on her by informing her that she “needed to tell Stahl directly that she wanted to transfer due to Bar-On’s behavior,” according to the complaint.
The complaint alleged that Fager was also aware of Bar-On’s alleged reputation.
After Poolos screened her first solo-produced story in 2013, Fager “commented that she must feel good to be ‘unhooked’ from Bar-On, alluding to his abusive behavior,” according to the complaint.
Likewise, Stahl is also alleged to have once told Poolos that she “respected” her for “not having formally complained about” Bar-On and “instead, had ‘focus[ed] on [her] work.”
That’s despite years of alleged harassment of Poolos by Bar-On, who was her manager between 2011 and 2017.
According to the suit, Bar-On told Poolos “he had been watching pornography on his work computer one night and was extremely anxious the next morning because Stahl asked to use his laptop at the airport, and he was unsure if he had closed the window with the pornography.”
On another occasion, Bar-On is alleged to have once referred to Stahl as a “see you next Tuesday” — a “euphemism” for a sexist slur.
In addition to her own allegations, Poolos called out the $30.5 million that CBS and ex-CEO Leslie Moonves paid out last year in a settlement with New York Attorney General Letitia James over the network covering up multiple sexual assault allegations against the former executive.
Poolos alleged that she complained about Bar-On’s behavior to a senior producer, but that nobody at the company ever bothered to investigate, according to the documents.
Poolos alleged that CBS “retaliated” against her “even after her firing” in February last year, according to the complaint.
After Poolos notified CBS of “her intent to pursue legal claims against the company,” the network “solicited negative information about Poolos from colleagues both within and outside of the company in an attempt to undermine her well-documented success and good reputation within her industry.”
Bar-On and another producer, Keith Sharman, once “joked in front of Poolos in Bar-On’s office about actress Natalie Portman and her ‘little’ body parts, plainly referencing her breasts,” according to the complaint.
Bar-On, who is still employed as a producer at “60 Minutes,” referred an inquiry about the allegations to CBS. Sharman, Fager and Owens couldn’t immediately be reached.
It was also alleged in the complaint that an “intoxicated” Bar-On “hit on Poolos” and “pressured her to come to his hotel room” while the two were on a work trip to Italy.
Bar-On is alleged to have “regularly commented about Poolos’ body and weight” — even “encouraging” her to “stay” at “certain weights” while “telling her which clothes accentuated her body,” according to the complaint.
At a 2016 Emmy Awards ceremony, Bar-On allegedly “commented on Poolos’ dress and its fit and told Poolos that her shoes made her legs look good,” the complaint stated.
In March 2016, Poolos, who at the time had recently announced her pregnancy, was allegedly told by Bar-On that she “needed to make a major change if she had the baby, including quitting her job at 60 Minutes,” it was alleged in the complaint.
In August 2016, a male employee asked Bar-On to borrow a copy of Vanity Fair magazine, which featured an image of actress Margot Robbie.
Bar-On is alleged to have told the employee that he could borrow the magazine so long as he didn’t return it with “sticky” pages, according to the complaint.
