Ever since PBS kicked talk show host, Tavis Smiley, to the curb in December 2017, over sexual misconduct allegations, he’s been on the war-pad against them. From the looks of his new lawsuit filing, he’s vowing to keep his promise not go down without a fight.
Details Of PBS’ Sex Assault Investigation Into Tavis Smiley
In case y’all haven’t heard by now, PBS launched an investigation into how Tavis was conducting business with his female employees. After their investigation, which was sparked after someone anonymously complained to the network, PBS announced that they were indefinitely suspending Tavis (which eventually led to his termination). Although Tavis has repeatedly denied that he did anything wrong and maintains that all of his relationships were consensual, PBS stated that they found “multiple, credible allegations” of misconduct.
Soon after his firing, Tavis went went on a full fledged media blitz to clear his name in interviews and with a 5 city tour about workplace harassment. He also made it clear that PBS has not informed him of exactly what the allegations against him are. Also, in response to PBS’ firing, Tavis also took to Facebook in December 2017, stating this:
My response to PBS suspension full text here: https://t.co/SzcQLfQWeX pic.twitter.com/8KX2QIr59B
— Tavis Smiley – on 🧵 @therealtavissmiley (@tavissmiley) December 14, 2017
“If having a consensual relationship with a colleague years ago is the stuff that leads to this kind of public humiliation and personal destruction, heaven help us,” he said. “This has gone too far. And I, for one, intend to fight back. […] The PBS investigators refused to review any of my personal documentation, refused to provide me the names of any accusers, refused to speak to my current staff and refused to provide me any semblance of due process to defend myself against allegations from unknown sources. … Their mind was made up.”
Smiley’s New Claims Against PBS:
Now he’s also calling out the network for reportedly firing him for a totally different reason instead of what they actually said they gave him the boot for. A reason that is rooted in racial bias:
Via Washington Post: “I’ve spent the bulk of my career in public media, so filing a lawsuit against PBS was the last thing I wanted to do,” [Tavis] said in an interview Tuesday. “But litigation seems to be the only way to get at the truth.” […]
In his suit, filed in D.C.’s Superior Court, he claims that PBS used “trumped up” accusations to drop distribution of his program after years of infighting over the program’s funding, promotion and content. His suit also asserts that some of the “tension” between PBS and Smiley, who is African American, was racial in nature.
PBS “has presented complaints and hassled Mr. Smiley when he had African American guests who espoused controversial positions, and effectively tried to stop any such guests from appearing,” his complaint says. “By contrast, PBS never raised editorial issues or hassled Mr. Smiley when he had white guests who espoused equally controversial positions (if not even more controversial).” The suit didn’t specify a request for damages but said his company has lost “multiple millions of dollars” as result of his termination, and has laid off about 20 employees.
PBS Fires Back At Smiley’s Lawsuit
PBS’ vice president for corporate communication, Jennifer Rankin Byrne, eferred to Tavis’ lawsuit as “meritless” and also as an attempt “to distract the public from his pattern of sexual misconduct in the workplace.” She went on to state that PBS hired an independent law firm to investigate a complaint against Smiley. According to Byrne, the investigation “revealed that he had multiple sexual encounters with subordinates over many years and yielded credible allegations of additional misconduct inconsistent with the values and standards of PBS.”
In his prior interview with Good Morning America, Tavis stated, “PBS made a huge mistake here. They need to fix it. They need to correct it. […] “I’m going to do anything to protect my reputation.” Based on the way this has gone so far, Tavis seems to be following through with that promise.
