The troubles of CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves did not escape the scrutiny of the network's "Late Show" host Stephen Colbert.
Colbert started breezily in his monologue joking about the New Yorker's report in which six women raised allegations of sexual harassment by Moonves. In citing the CBS board of directors' decision to hire an outside law firm to investigate the accusations, Colbert suggested a new series called "CSI: CEO."
But Colbert, who was hired by Moonves to replace David Letterman on the network's late-night franchise in 2015, took a more serious tone later in the program.
"Powerful men taking sexual advantage of relatively powerless employees are wrong," Colbert said. "We know it was wrong now and we knew it was wrong then. How do we know we knew it was wrong then? Because we know these men tried to keep the stories from coming out back then. I don't remember any ads in Variety saying 'Congratulations to me for all the butt I'm groping.'"
Colbert said he does not know what will happen to Moonves, who remains in place while the CBS board awaits the independent investigation into the allegations. Colbert described Moonves as "my guy," but stressed that he believed in accountability.
"He stood behind this show while we were struggling to find our voice," Colbert said. "He gave us the time and resources to succeed and he has stood by us when people were mad at me. I like working for him. But accountability is meaningless unless it's for everybody, whether it's the leader of a network or the leader of the free world."
