Gayle King was out of office on Monday, when CBS This Morning anchor Norah O’Donnell reported the exit of Les Moonves following allegations of sexual assault and harassment. On Tuesday morning, King returned to the show and shared her opinion on Moonves’s exit, and CBS’s internal investigation into sexual-misconduct allegations against Moonves and former CBS This Morning anchor Charlie Rose. “How can we have this investigation and not know how it comes out? Les Moonves has been on the record, he’s said he didn’t do these things, that it was consensual, that he hasn’t hurt anybody’s career. I think it would be in his best interest for us to hear what the report finds out,†she said. “On the other hand, you have women who are coming forward, very credibly talking about something so painful and humiliating. It’s been my experience that women don’t come out and speak this way for no reason. They just don’t. They 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.â€
Update: On today’s episode of The Talk, King’s fellow CBS employees supported their colleague’s call for transparency in the investigation of Moonves’s alleged sexual misconduct. His wife, Julie Chen, remained absent from the program, but her co-hostesses were clear with their desire to see the results of the investigation made public after the network announced they would be kept private instead. Sharon Osbourne said locking the information away would embolden other powerful executives to think they, too, could have their actions covered up, and said, “How are women ever going to feel comfortable in the workplace if they still think that power and money will be held over their heads?†Adding that, “It’s never going to end. It shouldn’t be allowed for anybody to have the verdict kept sealed. It’s not fair to women.â€
Co-host Sara Gilbert agreed with Osbourne, saying, “I feel like it would be difficult to work at a company feeling like things aren’t going to be told, if things go wrong or things are done that put women or anyone in a compromising position. You want to feel like it’s going to become public.†And Eve and Sheryl Underwood made similar comments expressing the need for transparency.