Les Moonves Accuser Illeana Douglas Says She Was Fired For Her ‘Poor Performance’ In Ex-CBS Exec’s Office

Illeana Douglas is speaking out regarding her sexual misconduct accusations against ousted CBS president and CEO Les Moonves. During an appearance on ABC’s The View, Douglas, one of six women who initially detailed sexual misconduct allegations against Moonves in a bombshell report for The New Yorker, recalled the meeting she had with the former CBS chief that she believes got her fired from the network 20 years ago.

In 1997, Douglas, then in her early 30s, was cast in the CBS show Queens. The actress said she was “excited” to meet with Moonves after she landed the part, describing him as a “father figure” whom she respected. But the meeting took an unexpected turn, as Douglas told the ladies of The View.

“He started asking me a lot of personal questions and I was stumbling and fumbling and not really knowing what to say and that, of course, led to him, you know, jumping on top of me and putting his tongue down my throat and pinning me down on the couch.”

Douglas revealed that once Moonves saw she wasn’t participating, he stopped kissing her. The CBS boss then told her they should keep what happened in the meeting between the two of them.

But when Douglas retreated to her car to cry in the parking lot, her manager called her to ask how the meeting went.

“I said, ‘Why?’ And she said, “Because Les just called me’ and I said, ‘What did he say?’ and she said, ‘He said you guys had a lot of fun.'”

Douglas said she feared a repeat incident could occur and became nervous when she made eye contact with Moonves when he showed up on the set of the CBS series. The actress said she tried to look for someone to talk to, but didn’t tell anyone about the incident until she was personally fired by Moonves “due to poor performance during rehearsal” shortly after the ill-fated meeting.

Douglas added that she believes her “poor performance” was related to something else.

“I think what he’s referring to is my poor performance when we were alone together in his office.”

A rep for Moonves told The New Yorker that while he admits trying to kiss Douglas, “he denies any characterization of ‘sexual assault,’ intimidation, or retaliatory action.”

But Douglas told The New Yorker that the physicality of Moonves’ attack was “horrendous.” The actress also alleges that Les Moonves negatively impacted her career at CBS, explaining that while she has been a part of 14 shows on ABC, 11 shows on NBC, as well as multiple projects at Fox, Lifetime, and Oxygen, she has “only worked at CBS two times.”

You can see Illeana Douglas talking about Les Mooves on The View below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sR5kPoAbwvo