Joseph Ianniello, the former chief operating officer of CBS who has taken over as interim CEO after Les Moonves' ouster over allegations of sexual abuse and harassment, did not mention the circumstances of his predecessor's departure in his first companywide email, obtained by HuffPost.
Mr. Moonves resigned Sept. 9 after a New Yorker article outlined new allegations of sexual misconduct against him over the course of several decades. However, Mr. Ianniello did not address the allegations against Mr. Moonves when discussing the company's leadership transition.
"Today also marks a major transition for all of us as Leslie Moonves departs from CBS. Les' departure occurs at a time when we are operating from a position of great strategic strength," Mr. Ianniello wrote. "As you all know, there is amazing work going on across the Company, and I feel confident we have the best people in the business to continue building on our outstanding success."
But at least one critic said Mr. Ianniello's omission represents a failure to address the culture of sexual harassment at CBS cultivated by years of Mr. Moonves' leadership.
"There does seem to be a deeper problem of sexual harassment and misconduct, and it doesn’t seem like they grappled with that in any meaningful way," Angelo Carusone, president of Media Matters for America, told HuffPost.