The president of ABC News told staffers at the network on Thursday she wants an independent investigation into the allegations against a former top producer who has been accused of sexual assault and abuse during his time at the company.
“We can’t have us investigating us. We need an independent person,” Kim Godwin said on the Thursday conference call, according to The Wall Street Journal. “The process has to be independent.”
The allegations against Michael Corn, a former executive producer of ABC’s “Good Morning America” and “World News Tonight,” were made in a lawsuit filed Wednesday in New York State Court and accuse him of harassing and groping at least two employees at the network.
Corn, in a statement through his attorney this week, denied the allegations.
ABC is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit, which alleges that top brass at the company were made aware of Corn’s behavior but failed to take action.
“We are committed to upholding a safe and supportive work environment and have a process in place that thoroughly reviews and addresses complaints that are made,” the company said in a statement to The Hill on Wednesday.
Godwin, who was hired to run ABC News earlier this year, told staffers on the morning call she was not interested in “sweeping this under the rug” and said she has heard from enough people within the company to know “we have a problem.”
Corn left ABC in May and was hired by Nexstar Broadcasting Group to serve as the company’s president of news and head up NewsNation, the company’s cable news operation. Nexstar last week purchased The Hill.
“I vehemently deny any allegations that I engaged in improper sexual contact with another woman,” Corn’s statement said. “[The allegations against me] are demonstrably false—and I am providing contemporaneous emails to prove it.”