ABC News Producer Accuses Former ‘Good Morning America’ Boss of Sexual Assault
Written by laserteam on August 30, 2021
https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/michael-corn-lawsuit-good-morning-america-abc-news-1235048782/(Variety) – An ABC News producer who has worked for years at “Good Morning America” has alleged that the show’s former top executive sexually assaulted her and another female staffer, and she claims the network did little to reprimand or punish him.
In a suit filed in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Kirstyn Crawford, a producer who works with ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos, alleges that Michael Corn, the former top producer at “Good Morning America,” assaulted her and another staffer, Jill McClain, on different occasions over a span of multiple years. Both women reported to Corn.
“ABC knew or should have known that Corn had a propensity to sexually harass female colleagues and that he perpetuated a hostile work environment at ABC,’ the suit alleges. “As early as 2017, ABC learned of Corn’s sexual assault on Plaintiff. Yet ABC did nothing to protect Plaintiff or remove Corn from his position of power. Indeed, Plaintiff has reason to believe that ABC was also aware of other women who complained against Corn. Instead, ABC looked the other way, elevated Corn through the ranks due to his commercial success as a producer, and facilitated the hostile workplace that Corn cultivated through his influence over subordinates’ careers, sexual harassment, gaslighting, and anger management issues.”
The suit alleges that Stephanopoulos heard about some of the claims against Corn by Crawford in 2017, and disclosed them to executives and urged Crawford to reach out to an ABC attorney to discuss further. But Crawford “fearing that making a formal complaint would do more harm than good or even result in losing her job,” did not follow up, according to the suit.
