“Our studio is committed to ensuring safe and respectful production environments,” CBS announced in a statement at the time. “Over the past year, we have assigned HR production partners to each show, increased staff training, and increased reporting options. We will continue to evolve our practices with an ongoing focus on building trust with everyone who works on our sets. Every complaint is taken seriously, every complaint is investigated, and when the evidence is clear that policies were violated and values were not respected, we took decisive action. ”
Throughout history, Lenkov’s attorney, Dale Kinsella, has refuted allegations of abusive behavior, often point by point. However, Lenkov expressed remorse in a statement: “Now is the time to listen and I am listening. It’s hard to hear that the work environment I was running was not the work environment my colleagues deserved, and so I am deeply sorry. I accept responsibility for what I hear and I promise to do the work that is required to improve and be better. “
The employees said they had not considered that the CBS human resources department supported them. One person characterized it as “a joke”, so he had not approached them. A woman identified as someone who used to work for Lenkov said that after ex-CEO Les Moonves was fired for sexual misconduct in 2018, there seemed to be a feeling that anything less was acceptable. (Moonves has denied the allegations against him.)
Since cutting ties with Lenkov, the network has announced new changes. In its next season, CBS has set itself the goal of increasing the number of blacks, indigenous people, and people of color on the writing staff of its shows to at least 40 percent. The goal is to spend 25 percent of your budget developing scripts on projects created or co-created by a person who belongs to the same group.
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