Patricia Heaton’s husband, “Carole’s Second Act” producer David Hunt, has been accused of sexual misconduct in an on-set scandal that led two feminine staff of the CBS sitcom to stop their jobs, in response to a report.
Hunt — the present’s government producer — allegedly inappropriately touched a feminine author, who ended up leaving the sequence together with a producer after they declare the community mishandled their complaints, the New York Occasions reported.
Author Broti Gupta mentioned she went to human assets about Hunt touching her in two separate incidents, together with one event the place he put her hand on her thigh.
She mentioned Hunt made her really feel uncomfortable when he hugged her twice exterior a piece dinner in August earlier than complimenting her pants and working a hand up her thigh.
Weeks later, Gupta was seated in a chair subsequent to co-executive producer Margee Magee when Hunt allegedly approached Gupta and jerked her by the shoulders, the outlet reported. Gupta mentioned she then introduced up the preliminary encounter to Magee, who inspired her to talk out.
The pair went to the sequence’ higher-ups, who reported the complaints to the community’s HR division, which started an investigation, the outlet reported.
Throughout a follow-up assembly, Gupta informed human assets that she didn’t need Hunt to be fired, solely to obtain sexual harassment coaching, in response to the report.
“I informed them simply my very own private code of ethics, which is that if there may be house for training as a substitute of punitive measures, then I consider in training,” Gupta mentioned.
Nonetheless, after reporting her criticism, Gupta claimed she and Magee had been prevented from attending sure rehearsals, rendering her unable to do her job correctly.
“That gave me no choice however to go away the present,” Gupta informed the outlet.
Magee mentioned she then met with HR to debate the state of affairs after Gupta’s departure and was stripped of almost all of her writing duties. She resigned in October over what she felt was retaliation for bringing her considerations to HR, the outlet reported.
CBS mentioned Hunt “cooperated totally with the method” after complaints had been made towards him — and denied the previous staff’ allegations that they had been punished for talking out.
The community mentioned they launched an investigation and located “no proof of retaliatory intent.”
“Our human assets workforce all the time endeavors to deal with points in knowledgeable and delicate method, and we should make clear that sure allegations about them have both been misstated or taken wholly out of context,” CBS mentioned in a press release. “The author and producer determined to go away the present of their very own accord.”
Hunt’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, mentioned his shopper did “didn’t bear in mind the small print as described” and “doesn’t recall rubbing anybody’s thigh or leg and he disputes that characterization of it,” in response to the New York Occasions. Freedman mentioned his shopper “remembers on the lookout for a script however doesn’t bear in mind the element of touching anybody’s shoulders, and if he did that, it was not meant to be offensive.”
Heaton, 61, the previous star of the hit CBS sitcom “Everyone Loves Raymond,” has been married to Hunt since 1990. The couple has 4 youngsters.
