Summary: PBS suspended their late-night talk show after misconduct allegations were made against him.

PBS suspended their late-night talk show hosted by Tavis Smiley when allegations of sexual misconduct were raised against him. The public broadcaster said, “Effective today, PBS has indefinitely suspended distribution of ‘Tavis Smiley,’ produced by TS Media, an independent production company.”

PBS explained, “PBS engaged an outside law firm to conduct an investigation immediately after learning of troubling allegations regarding Mr. Smiley. This investigation included an interview with witnesses as well as with Mr. Smiley. The inquiry uncovered multiple, credible allegations of conduct that is inconsistent with the values and standard of PBS, and the totality of this information led to today’s decision.”

Variety first reported the suspension after sources told them that PBS reached out to attorney Sarah Taylor Wirtz of law firm MSK to conduct the investigation into the talk-show host’s behavior when they received complaints about his conduct. The sources claim that MSK took 10 reports from witnesses, of whom were a mixture of men and woman of different races and positions within Smiley’s organization. Most of the witnesses were former staffers.

The investigation uncovered credible allegations of sexual misconduct involving sexual relationships between Smiley and several subordinates. Some of the witnesses were concerned about the connection between their employment status and having a sexual relationship with Smiley plus fears of retaliation from Smiley. They claim he fostered a verbally abusive and threatening environment that was more than just a normal high-pressure work environment.

Smiley responded to the allegations on Facebook stating, “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 has been the host of his current 30-minute show “Tavis Smiley” since 2004. The show airs weeknights on PBS stations. His company, TS Media, Inc. produces the show in Los Angeles. He is not employed by PBS nor are any of this staff members. The show has received four NAACP Image Awards. Smiley first rose to fame in the mid-90s when he was the host of “BET Tonight,” an evening public affairs program featured on the African American-focused cable channel.

In February, an Observer piece by Jacques Hyzagi, a former producer of Smiley’s television show, stated that his “misogyny is always creeping around, barely camouflaged by Midwestern good manners.” She went on to describe an incident when Smiley picked up a woman from the Orlando airport to serve as his “f*** buddy” on a reporting trip. She also claims that he had a romantic relationship with another producer and degraded PBS executives.

Smiley is allegedly in a development deal with Warner Bros. Television. One of the projects being developed is an adaptation of his book “Before You Judge Me: The Triumph and Tragedy of Michael Jackson’s Last Days.”

This is not the first time PBS took action against an accused sexual predator. Just weeks ago, PBS made a similar announcement against Charlie Roses’ interview show once he was accused of sexual harassment.

What do you think all of these accused celebrities finding themselves out of jobs will do now? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.

To read more about other TV hosts connected to sexual misconduct as either the accuser or accused, see these articles:

• Matt Lauer Fired by NBC for Sexual Misconduct
• TV Host Charlie Rose Sued for Not Paying Intern’s Wages
• TV Host Leeann Tweeden Accuses Sen. Al Franken of Sexual Assault

Photo: commons.wikimedia.org

The post PBS Late-Night Host Tavis Smiley Suspended first appeared on JDJournal Blog.

Summary: Television star Larry King adamantly denies ever groping anyone and will pursue legal action of his own against such allegations.

The ex-wife of late singer Eddie Fisher has accused television and radio host Larry King of groping her. Terry Richard, 63, revealed her accusation in an interview with The Daily Mail, a UK-based gossip site, published on Monday. King, 84, responded to her allegation with a statement to PEOPLE. His attorney stated that King “flatly and unequivocally denies these claims.” He will use legal action to “prove that they’re utterly false.”

The former Miss Louisiana 1973 claims that King groped her in 2005 and 2006 when they were posing for pictures. She said in the interview that the first time he touched her he slid his hand down her backless dress and put his fingers between her butt cheeks. In the second incident, he allegedly squeezed her buttocks hard enough to bruise her when they were taking another photo.

She told the Mail, “Larry King is a groper. He groped me twice. He gets a thrill doing this in front of the camera, knowing I couldn’t do anything.”

Richard claims she met King in 2004 when she told him she was Fisher’s fourth wife. She claims King wanted her on his show but she explained she needed to finish her book first. They took a photo together along with her son.

She claims the first incident happened when she worked for the Tolucan Times. She was covering a basketball awards show at Universal Studios, Los Angeles. They took a photo together on the red carpet. “Larry put his hand behind me on my back and as the photographer was taking out picture Larry slid his hand down from the middle of my back to putting his hand inside of my dress and it ended up with about three or four fingers in the crack of my a**, resting in the crack of my a**,” she claims. “He just stuck it in… I don’t know how he got [his hand] in there, but he did. I couldn’t believe it. I was so shocked. I froze. I let out a ‘squelch.”

She stated that King had a “big smile on his face.” She wanted to slap him but refrained.

King denies the allegations, stating they are “entirely and unequivocally false and defamatory.” He is also calling out The Daily Mail for publishing a false report. “Your publishing this false and defamatory statement will be actionable and highly damaging.”

Fisher had five wives during his lifetime before he died in 2010. Richard was his fourth wife. They were only married for a year.

Do you think an accuser needs to have some kind of evidence to back up their story before being allowed to take it to the media? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.

To learn more about other television and movie personalities accused of sexual misconduct, read these articles:

• Dustin Hoffman Accused by Three Women of Sexual Harassment
• Celebrity Chef Todd English Accused of Sexual Harassment, Allowing Rape Culture
• Matt Lauer Responds to Sexual Assault Allegations

Photo: Daily Mail TV

The post Larry King Won’t Tolerate Sexual Harassment Accusation first appeared on JDJournal Blog.

Summary: The former comedian and current Senator Al Franken has been accused of groping and forcefully kissing a woman while on a USO tour in 2006.

Model and sports commentator Leeann Tweeden has stepped forward, accusing Democratic Senator Al Franken of Minnesota of “kissing and groping” her during a USO Tour in December 2006 with physical evidence to back up her claims.

In a post on the KABC website, Tweeden explains what happened during a USO Tour in 2006, which is supposed to be a fun time for the troops. She was on the tour with music artists Darryl Worley, Keni Thomas, and Mark Wills as well as a few Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders. Al Franken, a comedian at the time, was the headliner of the tour.

Franken wrote some skits for the show with props and costumes. Tweeden explained that she was just planning on being the emcee that introduces the acts. However, Franken informed her that he wrote a part for her that he thought would be funny. The part included a kiss from a Franken. She said, “I suspected what he was after, but I figured I could turn my head at the last minute, or put my hand over his mouth, to get more laughs from the crowd.”

Tweeden claims Franken pushed her backstage to “rehearse” so she finally gave in, still planning to turn her head when he went in for a kiss. She said, “We did the line leading up the kiss and then he came at me, put his hand on the back of my head, mashed his lips against mine and aggressively stuck his tongue in my mouth.”

She decided to keep the incidence quiet but made sure she was never alone with Franken again during the tour. He responded with “petty insults” such as devil horns drawn on the headshots she was autographing for the troops. When she arrived home and saw the CD of pictures from the tour she saw a photo of Franken groping her breasts while she was asleep on the flight home.

With the example of others stepping forward with their personal stories of assault, she says she is “no longer afraid.”

Franken has since issued a statement in response to her allegations. He said, “The first thing I want to do is apologize: to Leeann, to everyone else who was part of that tour, to everyone who has worked for me, to everyone I represent, and to everyone who counts on me to be an ally and supporter and champion of women. There’s more I want to say, but the first and most important thing – and if it’s the only thing you care to hear, that’s fine – is: I’m sorry. I respect women. I don’t respect men who don’t. And the fact that my own actions have given people a good reason to doubt that makes me feel ashamed.”

Franken continued, “But I want to say something else, too. Over the past few months, all of us – including and especially men who respect women – have been forced to take a good, hard look at our own actions and think (perhaps, shamefully, for the first time) about how those actions have affected women.”

Franken has asked for an ethics investigation be conducted into him, and he said he intends to cooperate fully. He has a history of making crude remarks, perhaps thinking it was “funny.” In 2000, a Playboy column discussed Franken’s fantasy of a machine performing oral sex on him. He also pointed fun at the rape of CBS reporter Lesley Stahl when he was a writer for “Saturday Night Live.”

He is also quoted in his book, “Al Franken: Giant of the Senate,” to faking the apologies for his remarks so that he could gain support for his campaign. He wrote, “To say I was sorry for writing a joke was to sell out my career, to sell out who I’d been my entire life and I wasn’t sorry that I had written Porn-o-Rama or pitched that stupid Lesley Stahl joke at 2 in the morning. I was just doing my job. I learned that campaigns have their own rules, their own laws of physics, and that if I wasn’t willing to accept that, I would never get to be a senator.”

Do you think Franken is actually sorry for what he did? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.

To learn more about other politicians and celebrities accused of sexual misconduct, read these articles:

• 19 Hollywood Power Players Recently Accused of Sexual Harassment or Abuse
• House Addresses Sexual Harassment Problems on Capitol Hill
• Celebrity Chef Todd English Accused of Sexual Harassment, Allowing Rape Culture

Photo: commons.wikimedia.org

The post TV Host Leeann Tweeden Accuses Sen. Al Franken of Sexual Assault first appeared on JDJournal Blog.

Monica Contreras was finalizing a divorce case in August 2011, when a court marshal suddenly searched her for drugs in a private room. She claims that the marshal sexually assaulted her during the search, and video of the incident shows the judge ignoring her complaints and her subsequent arrest on false pretenses. In the almost two years since the incident occurred, Contreras has filed a complaint against Clark County family court, and little was done, but the recent release of video footage of the incident is leading to a wider investigation into the incident on suspicion of covering up the assault.

Video footage taken from inside the court room and obtained by Las Vegas CBS affiliate KLAS shows Contreras, in the family courtroom with her two-year old daughter, attempting to finalize her divorce. Suddenly, court marshal Ron Fox tells her she needs to be searched for drugs and takes her to a waiting room.

Contreras returns to the courtroom, where she tells presiding judge Patricia Donninger, “I think I’d rather have a female in here and he went anyway. I was just offended by it. I’m offended that he asked me.” Contreras alleged that after Fox touched her buttocks and breast, he then ordered her to lift up her shirt.

After her assault accusations are ignored by Donninger, who is playing with Contreras’ daughter in the video, another marshal begins to arrest Contreras. When Contreras asks for an explanation as to why she is being arrested, Fox says that she made “false allegations against a police officer,” (which is not a crime in Clark County,) and the marshals attempt to force Contreras to recant her accusations under threat of imprisonment. Contreras refused, and was taken to jail while pleading to Donninger. Contreras’ daughter was taken to child services, and ultimately returned when Contreras was released.

Contreras has since filed a complaint against the court, and Fox was fired from his position but not charged with any crime. He maintains his innocence in the situation, and is currently suing Clark County for wrongful termination. Fox claims that since no one in the courtroom tried to stop him, his arrest was legal.

Speaking with KLAS, Contreras said, “I just hope I did the right thing by telling internal affairs. It makes me feel good because now I know that I was right.”

The video footage has inspired outrage among the media, and several local news outlets have run editorials calling for the firing of Donninger. Clark County courts are expanding their investigation into the incident in an attempt to determine whether other court-related assaults went unreported or were covered up.

The post Woman Arrested in Family Court after Accusing Marshal of Sexual Assault first appeared on JDJournal Blog.

Lt. Col Jeffrey Krusinski, the officer tasked with handling the Air Force’s sexual assault prevention program, was arrested and charged with sexual assault over the weekend. After being arrested for aggressively groping a woman while intoxicated, the Air Force has removed Krusinski from his post pending an investigation.

On Monday, Krusinski was arrested for approaching a woman in an Arlington, VA, parking lot, and grabbing her breasts and buttocks. The victim fought Krusinski off as he attempted to assault her again, and as you can see from his mug shot, Krusinski has cuts on his eye and mouth. He was later released on a $5,000 bond, and removed from his position. The Air Force has requested jurisdiction from the Arlington Police Department in the matter, and Krusinski is expected to be arraigned on one count of sexual battery.

Stars and Stripes reports that Krusinski served in Afghanistan, as the deputy expeditionary mission support group commander at Joint Base Balad in Iraq, and as the commander of the 6^th Force Support Squadron at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, FL, before he was appointed as the Chief of the Air Force Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Branch.

Though Krusinski has yet to make a statement, Stars and Stripes said that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel expressed “outrage and disgust over the troubling allegations,” and that the matter will be dealt with “swiftly and decisively.”

Aside from the obvious tragedy that surrounds any type of sexual assault, Krusinski’s arrest is a tremendous black eye for the Air Force. As the man tasked with preventing sexual assault throughout the military branch, Krusinski failed to live up to the standards he was in place to uphold. As a symbol of the Air Force’s attempt to address recent sexual assault controversies, his arrest suggests that sexual assault, or at least sexually regressive politics, are still hardwired into the foundation of the Air Force, and that past investigations into sexual assault led by Krusinski may have been compromised and may need to be reopened.

Krusinski’s arrest is the latest sexual assault scandal plaguing the Air Force. In Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, more than 30 training instructors and drill sergeants were investigated for sexual assault and fraternizing with junior officers, with more than 60 potential victims coming forward. And a recent Defense Department report estimates that 19,000 members of the armed services were victims of sexual assault in 2011.

Image Credit: Arlington County PD

The post Air Force Officer In Charge of Sexual Assault Prevention Arrested for Sexual Assault first appeared on JDJournal Blog.

A second man has come forward with a story that John Travolta masturbated in front of him after he gave Travolta a massage at a resort in Atlanta, Georgia. The second man came forward only 24 hours after the first masseur came forward to say that he is suing Travolta for $2 million. The second man is suing for the same amount of money and has told the same story. The second masseur has said that he has “substantial documentation and numerous witnesses regarding the substance of Travolta’s actions.” The two masseurs are represented by the same lawyer, Okorie Okorocha.

The second victim claims that Travolta was staying at a resort in Atlanta, Georgia on January 28, 2012 using the name Mr. White. The massage was booked as an in-room massage, which the masseur typically does not do but he could not decline it because his co-worker refused to do the massage for him. The second masseur claims that “Travolta removed the entire sheet from his body, and he claimed the sheets were sticky and could not tolerate the heat.”

The lawsuit documents also state the following: “Travolta further indicated that he likes a lot of ‘Glutes’ work meaning a massage on his buttocks. …While he was massaging near Travolta’s buttocks area, Travolta would open his legs and spread his butt cheeks open and had a full erection and would maneuver in a way to try to force Doe Plaintiff No. 2 to touch his anus and around his anus.”

The first accusations of sexual assault against Travolta have been denied by Travolta’s representative and his lawyer. The statement released by the Travolta camp said the following: “The problem in America is anyone can sue anyone. However, in this case this unidentified plaintiff and his lawyer will regret they filed this fabricated suit. We intend to sue both of them for malicious prosecution.”

The lawsuit also states the following:

“[Travolta had] a strange demeanor, bloodshot eyes and climbed onto the already setup massage table…Travolta removed the entire sheet from his body, and he claimed the sheets were sticky and could not tolerate the heat…Travolta suddenly turned on his stomach with his legs wide open with a full erection. He then tried to force Doe Plaintiff No. 2’s hand on Travolta’s scrotum. Then, Travolta started to grab, rub and caress Doe Plaintiff no. 2’s upper thighs and buttocks….Travolta still had an erection and wanted his abdominals done, but Travolta’s erection was in the way and he refused to have his penis covered by a sheet or a pillow case cover.”

The post Second Unidentified Man Accuses Travolta of Sexual Assault first appeared on JDJournal Blog.