’60 Minutes’ Lesley Stahl On CBS’ Sexual Harassment Scandal: “It Has Been Very Painful”
Veteran television journalist Lesley Stahl said the sexual harassment allegations that have rocked CBS and resulted in the ouster of her own boss, 60 Minutes producer Jeff Fager, has been “very painful.”
“It has been very painful, and as a woman, when it hits home, it’s so confusing,” said Stahl in remarks this morning at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit. “I think there have been men who have been accused, and their careers ruined — completely ruined — destroyed and crushed, and they’re not Harvey Weinstein.”
Stahl said she is struck that, in this #MeToo reckoning, there has been no “sliding scale.”
“There are absolute cases of rape, attempted rape, perpetual assault, that are obviously predatory,” Stahl said. “”Over here, there is a category that doesn’t need to have their lives destroyed.”
Stahl did not address the specific allegations against Fager, who was fired after sending a threatening text message to a female journalist who had requested comment about the allegations of sexual harassment and assault detailed in The New Yorker. Nor did she mention former CBS CEO Les Moonves, who resigned last month after a dozen women came forward with accounts of sexual aggression.
The veteran TV journalist, who devoted much of her time discussing the various occupants of the White House, said this has been an emotional time.
“It’s been very hard,” said Stahl.
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