A senior ABC News executive was fired after being placed on administrative leave for racist comments she reportedly made about black employees.
Last month, Yashar Ali of the Huffington Post filed damning accusations against ABC News head of talent Barbara Fedida and her treatment of black journalists online, including “Good Morning America” presenter Robin Roberts.
On Monday, Fedida’s dismissal was announced in a memo to ABC News employees of Walt Disney Television president and Disney Media Networks co-president Peter Rice.
“The investigation confirmed that Ms Fedida made some of the racially callous unacceptable comments attributed to her. It also confirmed that Ms Fedida handled roughly and sometimes used rude and inappropriate language.” Rice told employees, according to the memo obtained by Fox News. “Finally, the investigation found no basis for claims that Ms. Fedida was the subject of dozens of human resource complaints and that ABC News spent millions of dollars on confidential settlements related to Ms. Fedida, as alleged in some press accounts. “
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“Although Ms. Fedida made contributions to the organization during her 20-year career, in light of the overall findings, we have determined that she can no longer serve in a leadership role and will not return to ABC News.” Rice said in the memo.
According to the memorandum, Fedida’s now vacant role will be restructured by the network due to the way it “wielded power” in that position.
Neither ABC News nor representatives of Fedida immediately responded to Fox News’ requests for comment.
“The View” addressed the controversy that rocked ABC News over the weekend on Monday, resulting in the administrative leave of its chief executive, Barbara Fedida.
In 2018, during a controversial meeting on Robin Roberts’ contract renewal, Fedida “asked what more Roberts could want and said it wasn’t as if the network was asking Roberts to ‘pick cotton’.”
Fedida also reportedly referred to “The View” co-host Sunny Hostin as “low rent.”
Another source told Ali about a comment Fedida said about then-ABC News reporter Kendis Gibson, a black presenter, that ABC “spends more on toilet paper than we would spend on it.”
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According to the report, Fedida would also refer to women as “c — s” openly in the office.
Ali wrote that he had spoken to “34 sources over the course of six months” consisting of current and former ABC News staff.
“To say he is an abusive figure is an understatement,” a former ABC News member told the Huffington Post.
In a statement to Fox News, ABC News said at the time: “There are deeply troubling allegations in this story that we need to investigate, and we have placed Barbara Fedida on administrative leave while conducting a thorough and thorough investigation. These allegations do not represent the values and culture of ABC News, where we strive to make everyone feel respected in a thriving, diverse and inclusive workplace. “
Fedida began working at ABC News in 1989 as a staff member for presenter Peter Jennings and had risen in rank among executives. After leaving the Disney-owned network in 2005 for an executive position on CBS News, Fedida returned to ABC News in 2011.
“Typically, a talent executive in a network news division is responsible for finding new talent and developing and working with current network talent. Fedida does all of this on ABC News, but her role and influence go far beyond that. beyond that. She is essentially a Goldston deputy and has been tasked with enforcing and dealing with all the difficult issues she does not want to handle, “Ali wrote, referring to ABC News president James Goldston.
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Fedida reportedly despised the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) despite its role in raising diversity online. Unlike most network executives, she would skip the organization’s annual convention.
A letter from NABJ was reportedly sent to Goldston aiming to increase diversity, which includes having a high-level black producer on each show and interviewing black candidates for all job offers.
However, Fedida, along with other executives, referred to the letter as a “black manifesto.”
The NABJ released a statement on June 13 asking that “ABC News / Disney immediately launch a transparent external investigation led by a diverse law firm to examine all of the allegations detailed in [Yashar Ali’s] report while doing a thorough review of ABC News Exec Barbara Fedida and the talent department [sic]”
The NABJ also asked ABC News to “relinquish its confidentiality agreements with any black employee and other employees of color, and allow past and current employees to speak at the registry in the absence of retaliation if they so choose.”
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Over the years, Ali said, at least a “dozen” human resource complaints have been filed against Fedida, and his conduct “has resulted in millions in confidential settlements that include at least one settlement involving allegations of racial discrimination.”
“For years, Fedida’s conduct, not just when it comes to race and racism, has been widely discussed in the media business. People have wondered how she has managed to keep her job. She and others have managed to kill stories about their behavior in the past, “Ali said.
