Cybill Shepherd Says Her CBS Sitcom Was Axed After She Turned Down Les Moonves’ Advances

Cybill Shepherd is the latest Hollywood star to speak out about fallen CBS chief Les Moonves. In an interview on SiriusXM’s The Michelle Collins Show, the Golden Globe-winning actress alleged that Moonves made a pass at her during a dinner meeting in the late 1990s when he was married to then-wife Nancy Wiesenfeld, according to Page Six.

“His assistant and my assistant made a dinner date and we went to it and he was, well he was telling me his wife didn’t turn him on, some mistress didn’t turn him on. And I’m watching him drink alcohol and he says, ‘Well, you know, why don’t you let me take you home?’ I said, ‘No, I’ve got a ride.’ And I had my car outside with a good friend of mine who is an off-duty LAPD officer.'”

Shepherd went on to say that her self-titled CBS show was canceled shortly after she declined Les Moonves’ advances.

“We had the best writers in the world, and directors and actors — everybody was brilliant. My show could’ve run another five years but I didn’t fall on the right side of Les Moonves. I wasn’t going to fall at all for Les.”

Cybill Shepherd revealed that after she rejected Moonves, she began getting critical notes about things her feminist character could no longer do or say on Cybill before the Chuck Lorre comedy was unceremoniously axed.

Actress Cybill Shepherd said that her ‘90s hit comedy “Cybill” was thwarted after she rejected inappropriate advances by CBS chairman Les Moonves back then, making her one of the highest-profile stars to denounce the ousted mogul. https://t.co/Jhvknq6BBn

— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) December 13, 2018

Cybill ran for four seasons on CBS, from 1995 to 1998. The hit series followed Shepherd’s character, a divorced mom and struggling actress in her 40s. Cybill, which was nominated for 12 Emmy awards and earned Shepherd two Golden Globes, ended abruptly on July 13, 1998, with a final episode cliffhanger that ended with the words “To be continued…”

Les Moonves, once the most powerful man in television, has been accused of sexual misconduct by more than two dozen women in incidents that allegedly occurred when he was married to Weisenfeld, his wife from 1978 to 2003. Moonves is currently married to CBS host Julie Chen.

While he has said some of the encounters were consensual and has denied others, the longtime CBS president and CEO stepped down from his position at the network in September. Julie Chen also resigned from her job on CBS’s daytime chatfest, The Talk.

Les Moonves is currently in line for a $120 million severance package from CBS, but as more allegations against him to continue to surface, his payment from the network is being called into question.