Barbara Fedida, a senior vice president, had been on leave since last month, when it was alleged that during contract negotiations with black “Good Morning America” presenter Robin Roberts, Fedida told colleagues that it was not as if ABC was asking him to “pick cotton.”
The Huffington Post report also alleged that Fedida called “The View” black co-host Sunny Hostin “low rent,” while suggesting that former black ABC correspondent Kendis Gibson was worth less than toilet paper.
The network said in an internal memo Monday that an independent investigation showed Fedida had made “racially callously unacceptable comments” at work.
The investigation confirmed that Ms. Fedida made some of the racially callous unacceptable comments attributed to her. She also confirmed that Mrs. Fedida drove roughly and sometimes used rude and inappropriate language, ” Peter Rice, president of Walt Disney Television, wrote to the staff in the memo seen by Page Six.
But while HuffPost claimed that there were deals with some former network employees who complained about Fedida, Rice denied it.
External experts “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 accounts of press, “says the memo. said.
Still, “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.
The memo added that ABC will restructure its position because it consolidated too much power under one role and that the network will announce initiatives for greater inclusion and diversity.
Fedida reportedly told HuffPost in a statement through his attorney at the time of his report: “Throughout my career, I have been an advocate for greater diversity in network news.
“Building a news division where everyone can prosper has been my life’s mission. I am proud of my decades of recruiting, supporting and promoting talented journalists of color. And unlike these heartbreaking and incredibly misleading claims about me, that record is well documented and undeniable. “
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