Jeff Fager — who was booted from CBS on Wednesday after sexual misconduct allegations were made against him — says he was fired because he sent a “harshly worded” text message to an CBS employee “demanding fair coverage.”
On Sunday, the New Yorker published the latest in series of accusations against Fager, all of which he has denied.
In a memo to staff, CBS news president David Rhodes said that the “60 Minutes”producer has been dismissed, but said that the move was, “not directly related to the allegations surfaced in press reports, which continue to be investigated independently. However, he violated company policy and it is our commitment to uphold those policies at every level.”
Then, in his own statement — obtained by Page Six — Fager said that instead CBS “terminated my contract early because I sent a text message to one of our own CBS’s demanding that she be fair in covering the story.” He acknowledged that his language in the text was “harsh,” but said that “although journalists received harsh demands for fairness all the time, CBS didn’t like it.”
He ended, “One such note should not result in termination after 36 years, but it did.”
Fager joined CBS News in 1982, and has since served as chairman of chairman of the news division. He’s been the executive producer of “60 Minutes” since 2004.
In July the New Yorker reported that six former CBS employees had touched them in “in ways that made them uncomfortable.
On Sunday, the New Yorker reported that a former CBS intern, Sarah Johansen, had accused Fager of touching her butt during a work party in the 2000s.
Fager’s boss, Les Moonves — who was also accused of sexual misconduct in the New Yorker article — resigned after it was published. Fager declined to comment to the New Yorker about the allegations, but in his Wednesday statement, he called the claims “false.” Meanwhile, while Moonves told the magazine that he’d had romantic relationships with some of the accusers many years ago, but denied any non-consensual activity.
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