After taking time off to visit Europe, Gayle King returned to CBS This Morning Tuesday, and called on the network to release the findings of its investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against former chairman and CEO Les Moonves.
“I’m sick and sick of the story and sickened by everything that we keep hearing,” King said on the broadcast.
Former CBS chief Moonves resigned Sunday after six more accusers came forward with claims of sexual assault, physical violence and intimidation.
Read More: CBS Chief Les Moonves Resigns Amid New Sexual Misconduct Claims
King urged CBS to make public the results of its ongoing internal investigation into the allegations against Moonves, after several news outlets reported the final report would not be publicly disclosed.
“How can we have this investigation and not know how it comes out? Les Moonves has been on the record, he says, listen, he didn’t do these things, that it was consensual, that he hasn’t hurt anybody’s career,” King told her co-hosts. “And I would think it would be in his best interests for us to hear what the report finds out.”
She continued: “On the other hand, you have women who are coming forward, very credibly talking about something that’s so painful and so humiliating. It’s been my experience that women don’t come out and speak this way for no reason. They just don’t. They just don’t do it.”
"I don't know how we move forward, if we at CBS, don't have full transparency about what we find." — @GayleKing on sexual misconduct probe at CBS pic.twitter.com/SObLfkoO1M
— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) September 11, 2018
King also expressed sympathy for Moonves’ wife, Julie Chen, who hosts CBS programs The Talk and Big Brother.
“I certainly feel for Julie Chen today. She’s in a very difficult position,” King said. “Les Moonves has done wonderful things for this company, and we can’t forget that either. So, it’s just a bad situation all the way around.”
As part of its settlement agreement, CBS agreed “not to issue any disparaging statements concerning the Moonves probe,” The Hollywood Reporter wrote in a Monday article.
Read More: ‘The Talk’ Co-Hosts Address Les Moonves Scandal
Moonves resigned from CBS, hours after The New Yorker published a story detailing sexual misconduct allegations against him from six more women.
One woman, veteran television executive Phyllis Golden-Gottlieb, accused Moonves of “physically restraining her and forcing her to perform oral sex on him.” She also alleged that he exposed himself to her and violently threw her “against a wall.”
Moonves said the allegations are untrue and called the claims “appalling” in a statement to the magazine.
Sharon Osbourne, one of the co-hosts of The Talk, had pointed words for her former boss Monday during the daytime show’s season 9 premiere.
“The stories are so similar, the pattern is so similar, that for me, it’s not being convicted of any crime, but obviously the man has a problem,” she said.
Her co-host Sheryl Underwood urged Moonves to look inside himself.
“I think this is a blessing from God, to be unburdened from secrets,” Underwood said as she fought back tears. “Now is the time for everyone to look inside themselves and become better people, and to treat people the way they should be treated.”
Julie Chen missed the show to be with her family.
