High-powered Hollywood executives and stars. A celebrity chef. A doctor working with young Olympic athletes. A former U.S. president and current senator. These are among the powerful men that have recently been accused of sexual misconduct as waves of women come forward to tell their stories.
Thousands of women have shared their stories of harassment and assault in blog posts, statements to journalists and as part of the viral #MeToo social media movement. Many said they didn’t speak up about their experiences sooner because they felt ashamed, afraid it would end their careers or afraid for their safety.
Here are some of the powerful men who have been accused of sexual harassment, abuse or both, listed in alphabetical order.
John Besh, celebrity chef
The New Orleans celebrity chef stepped down from the restaurant group bearing his name on Oct. 25 after 25 women, current and former employees, alleged sexual harassment by male co-workers and bosses, The Times-Picayune reported.
One of the nine women who agreed to be named, Madie Robison, said she endured uninvited touching from male coworkers at Besh Restaurant Group, as well as frequent requests by her boss, Besh, to discuss his sex life.
American Public Television has pulled both "Chef John Besh's New Orleans" and "Chef John Besh's Family Table" in light of the allegations against Besh and his company, the network said in a statement to NBC Tuesday.
"As of today, we have withdrawn distribution of these two series," spokesman Jamie Haines wrote.
In a written statement to NBC, Besh apologized to employees “who found my behavior as unacceptable as I do.”
George H.W. Bush, former president
In an Instagram post that has since been deleted, actress Heather Lind recounted the story of when she met former president George H.W. Bush four years ago to promote one of her TV shows.
"He touched me from behind from his wheelchair with his wife Barbara Bush by his side," Lind wrote. "He told me a dirty joke. And then, all the while being photographed, touched me again."
The former president apologized.
“President Bush would never — under any circumstance — intentionally cause anyone distress, and he most sincerely apologizes if his attempt at humor offended Ms. Lind,” Jim McGrath, a Bush spokesman, said in a statement.
Since that initial allegation, five more women have come forward alleging similar grabbing incidents that occurred during photo ops. Two more women did so anonymously to CNN.
McGrath has apologized repeatedly on the former president's behalf "to anyone he has offended."
"George Bush simply does not have it in his heart to knowingly cause anyone distress, and he again apologizes to anyone he offended during a photo op," McGrath said, adding that because he's used a wheelchair for the past five years "his arm falls on the lower waist of people with whom he takes pictures."
He declined to comment after CNN reported on an eighth accuser alleged that Bush grabbed her buttocks during a photo op while she was attending a fundraiser for his presidential re-election campaign in Dearborn, Michigan, in April 1992.
Louis C.K., comedian, actor, producer
In interviews with The New York Times, five women accused the Emmy-winning actor, comedian and producer of sexual misconduct. Two women, both comedians, said C.K. took his clothes off and masturbated in front of them when they came to his hotel room for a drink after they performed with him at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Colorado in 2002.
Comedian Abby Schachner alleged that she could hear C.K. masturbating while they spoke on the phone in 2003. She had called him to invite him to one of her shows. Another comedian, Rebecca Corry, said that C.K. asked her if he could masturbate in front of her in 2005. She said no. A fifth woman, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Times that C.K. repeatedly asked her to watch him masturbate in front of her in the late 1990s when she worked with him on “The Chris Rock Show.”
“These stories are true,” C.K. said in a statement released Nov. 10, the day after The Times report was published. “I have been remorseful of my actions. And I’ve tried to learn from them. And run from them. Now I’m aware of the extent of the impact of my actions,” he said.
FX Networks and FX Productions, which produce several of C.K.’s television shows, cut ties with him following the allegations. C.K.’s former publicist, Lewis Kay, announced on Twitter that he no longer represents C.K.
NBC has reached out to C.K. for comment.
Al Franken, U.S. senator
Senator Al Franken, D-Minn., issued two apologies after a radio news anchor said that he kissed her against her will and later groped her while she was asleep on a USO tour in 2006, before he was a senator.
Leeann Tweeden, a former model and TV sports reporter who now anchors a news radio show in Los Angeles, said the two incidents occurred separately on a tour to visit U.S. troops in the Middle East, one during rehearsal for a skit Franken wrote, the other on as she slept on the plane back to the U.S. on Christmas Eve.
The unwanted kiss took place when they were alone backstage during a rehearsal for a skit.
"He repeated that actors really need to rehearse everything and that we must practice the kiss," Tweeden wrote in an article published by KABC radio. "I said 'OK' so he would stop badgering me. We did the line leading up to the kiss and then he came at me, put his hand on the back of my head, mashed his lips against mine and aggressively stuck his tongue in my mouth."
She said she didn't know about the groping until a photographer gave her a CD that included the photo.
"I certainly don't remember the rehearsal for the skit in the same way, but I send my sincerest apologies to Leeann," Franken said in a first statement. "As to the photo, it was clearly intended to be funny but wasn't. I shouldn't have done it."
In a second statement, Franken said he welcomed a Senate ethics investigation into his behavior.
"I respect women. I don't respect men who don't. And the fact that my own actions have given people a good reason to doubt that makes me feel ashamed," Franken said.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., several of Franken's Democratic colleagues in the Senate agreed that he should be the subject of an ethics investigation. Top Democrats stopped short of saying he should resign.
Tweeden said "people make mistakes" and that she accepted Franken's apology.
Mark Halperin, political journalist
Allegations against "Game Change" author Mark Halperin surfaced in a CNN report, which quoted five anonymous women as saying Halperin sexually harassed them when he was a top political journalist at ABC News.
In a statement to CNN, Halperin apologized for pursuing "relationships with women that I worked with, including some junior to me." He denied inappropriate touching.
Halperin left ABC News in 2007 after two decades with the network. ABC News said no complaints were filed during his time there. Four of the women have since left ABC News.
After leaving ABC News, Halperin became a senior political analyst and frequent contributor for NBC News and MSNBC.
NBC News fired Halperin on Monday, Oct. 30, 2017. Publisher Penguin Press canceled a planned book by Halperin and John Heilemann about the 2016 election and HBO pulled the plug on a miniseries that would have been based on the book.
Roy Moore, Republican Senate candidate in Alabama
Two women have accused the Alabama judge and Senate candidate of sexually molesting them in the 1970s when one was 14 and the other 16 and Moore was a deputy district attorney in his 30s. Others have said he pursued romantic relationships with them when they were between the ages of 16 and 18. The first four allegations were reported by The Washington Post. One woman, Beverly Young Nelson, said Moore told her that “no one will believe you” if she were to tell anyone about the encounter, which she said left her neck bruised. Residents of Moore’s hometown were long concerned by his behavior toward teenage girls at the local mall, which he was banned from, according to a report in The New Yorker. One woman, Tina Johnson, told AL.com that Moore groped her during a 1991 meeting in his law office.
A statement by Moore’s campaign called the allegations “outlandish attacks” by the Democratic Party and The Post, saying that if the claims were true, they would have been made public sooner.
“This garbage is the very definition of fake news and intentional defamation,” the statement said. Moore threatened to sue The Washington Post.
Top Republicans in Washington have said Moore should step down as their party’s candidate for Senate in Alabama ahead of the Dec. 12 election and the Republican National Committee withdrew funding for him. Moore could still beat his Democratic challenger, Doug Jones, though some polls show Jones pulling ahead. It is too late for Moore to be removed from the ballot, but Republicans have two long-shot moves: they can rally around a write-in candidate or immediately expel Moore from the Senate if he wins.
Local Alabama Republican leaders have maintained support for Moore.
"You ask me if I believe the girls. No, I don't believe the girls. I believe Judge Moore," Moore strategist Dean Young said. "Let the battle begin. ... Get ready to fight Mitch McConnell. We're going to fight you to the death on this."
Larry Nassar, Olympic doctor
Two-time Olympic medalist McKayla Maroney, 21, alleged this month that the USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar molested her for years starting when she was in her early teens.
Nassar is currently in jail in Michigan awaiting sentencing on a charge of possessing child pornography, to which he pleaded guilty. He is also on trial for separate criminal sexual conduct charges and has been sued by more than 125 women who allege abuse. Nassar has pleaded not guilty to assault charges and is in mediation on civil suits.
Nassar's attorney responded to Moroney's allegations with no comment, citing a gag order over outstanding proceedings. His lawyers have called the earlier allegations against him "patently false and untrue" and said "his techniques were medically accepted and appropriate."
Bill O’Reilly, former Fox News host
In February, Fox News renewed the contract of host Bill O'Reilly one month after he paid $32 million to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit, The New York Times reported.
The settlement paid to Lis Wiehl, a longtime Fox News legal analyst, who accused him of forcing her into a “nonconsensual relationship," was the latest in a succession of settlements made by O'Reilly. He was fired from Fox News in April.
O'Reilly was dropped by his talent agency, United Talent Agency, Monday night, a source told NBC News. A source familiar with the situation said “we’re parting ways” after his current contract expires at the end of 2017.
A statement from Fox News parent company 21st Century Fox said it knew that O'Reilly had settled the lawsuit with Wiehl, but didn't know the terms.
"His new contract... added protections for the company specifically aimed at harassment," the statement said.
21st Century Fox has said the network it has worked to change the culture at Fox News. The founder of Fox News, Roger Ailes, resigned from the network last year after several women, including Kelly, alleged sexual misconduct. He died in May at the age of 77.
O’Reilly has blamed the media for reports of his alleged sexual misconduct, writing on Twitter Monday that the Times report was an attack for political purposes.
"Once again, The New York Times has maliciously smeared Bill O'Reilly," O'Reilly's attorney said to NBC in a written statement. He pointed out that "in the more than 20 years Bill O'Reilly worked at Fox News, not one complaint was filed against him with the Human Resources Department or Legal Department by a coworker."
But on NBC’s “Megyn Kelly Today,” Kelly refuted that claim, saying she had complained about O’Reilly while they were both working at Fox News, and blasted the culture of silencing sexual harassment victims at the network and beyond.
Roy Price, Amazon Studios executive
Roy Price resigned from his position as the head of Amazon’s streaming service after sexual harassment claims, an Amazon spokesperson confirmed to NBC News.
Isa Dick Hackett, executive producer of the Amazon show “The Man in the High Castle," said that when she met Price for the first time in 2015, he repeatedly propositioned her as they shared a cab with another Amazon executive to an Amazon staff party, she told The Hollywood Reporter.
Price was initially suspended from Amazon and resigned days later. Hackett said the Weinstein scandal spurred her to share her story.
NBC reached out to Price for comment but did not receive an immediate response.
Brett Ratner, filmmaker
Six women — including actress Olivia Munn — accused Brett Ratner of harassment or misconduct in a Los Angeles Times report on Nov. 1, 2017.
Munn said that while visiting the set of Ratner's "After the Sunset" in 2004, he masturbated in front of her in his trailer. Munn described the incident, without naming Ratner, in a 2010 collection of essays.
The LA Times report describes other encounters where Ratner aggressively pursued actresses, sometimes following them into a bathroom.
Representatives for Ratner didn't immediately respond to queries Wednesday. Ratner directed the "Rush Hour" film series, "Red Dragon," ''X-Men: The Last Stand" and "Tower Heist."
Terry Richardson, fashion photographer
For years, Terry Richardson has faced allegations of inappropriate behavior in his work as a fashion photographer, in which he's taken pictures of celebrities like Beyoncé, Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus.
These accusations are resurfacing after Condé Nast International, which publishes magazines such as Vogue, GQ and Vanity Fair, announced Monday that it would no longer work with Richardson, The Telegraph reported.
In 2001, model Liskula Cohen said Richardson asked her to get completely naked during a Vogue photoshoot, while he was also naked, and pretend to perform a sex act on another man, according to Complex. Many other women alleged sexual abuse by Richardson to Jezebel under the condition of anonymity for fear of losing their jobs.
Richardson's agent did not immediately respond to NBC's request for comment but Richardson has previously addressed what he called the "rumors" of his behavior.
“I collaborated with consenting adult women who were fully aware of the nature of the work, and as is typical with any project, everyone signed releases," Richardson wrote in a 2014 essay on HuffPost.
Chris Savino, former Nickelodeon producer
Chris Savino, creator of the animated series "The Loud House," was fired from Nickelodeon after a dozen women claimed that he made unwanted sexual advances to co-workers, Cartoon Brew reported. He is also accused of threatening to blacklist women from the industry after the end of consensual relationships.
After the report came out, Anne Walker Farrell, a director on Netflix show "Bojack Horseman," released a series of tweets claiming that Savino had harassed her 15 years ago. Farrell wrote that Savino offered her a "'mentorship' that devolved into lewd messages, etc.'"
Savino responded to the allegations on Facebook on Monday.
“I am deeply sorry and ashamed,” he wrote. “Although it was never my intention, I now understand that the impact of my actions and communications created an unacceptable environment."
Robert Scoble, tech blogger
At least three women have accused the high-profile tech writer and evangelist of sexual and verbal harassment, starting with a blog post by journalist Quinn Norton, who wrote that he assaulted her at a hacker conference in the early 2010s. Another woman, Michelle Greer, who worked with Scoble in the past, told Buzzfeed that he groped her at a tech conference in 2010.
Sarah Kunst, creator of workout app ProDay, said on Twitter that Scoble acted inappropriately with her.
Scoble resigned from his virtual reality startup, Transformation Group, after the allegations. He apologized in a Facebook post on Friday.
"I’m deeply sorry to the people I’ve caused pain to," he wrote. "I know I have behaved in ways that were inappropriate."
But on Tuesday, he wrote on his blog that his accusers "used grains of truth to sell false narrative."
Andy Signore, web series creator
After the Harvey Weinstein scandal exploded, at least five women posted on social media that they had experienced sexual harassment by Andy Signore, creator of fan site Screen Junkies and the “Honest Trailers” film-parody franchise.
One woman wrote on Twitter that Signore offered to masturbate in front of her. Another said he tried to sexually assault her several times and threatened to fire her boyfriend, who worked at Screen Junkies, if she told anyone, Variety reported.
After the accusations became public, Screen Junkies said in a statement on Twitter that it had fired Signore.
"There is no justification for this egregious and intolerable behavior," read the statement.
NBC reached out to Signore for comment but did not receive an immediate response.
Kevin Spacey, actor
Actor Anthony Rapp, in an exclusive interview with Buzzfeed, alleged that the "House of Cards" star made unwanted sexual advances at him when he was 14 years old. The incident happened in 1986 when Spacey was 26, and Rapp, now 46, said he never discussed it with anyone.
On Twitter Spacey said he did not remember the encounter but offered an apology for "what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior."
In the same statement, Spacey also announced he is living as a gay man, an announcement that received backlash from some observers as an attempt at deflection.
Days later, "House of Cards" halted production of season six and ultimately fired Spacey. He lost an award he was supposed to receive by The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Spacey was also replaced by Christopher Plummer on the movie "All the Money in the World."
Former Boston TV news anchor Heather Unruh, meanwhile, held a news conference where she alleged that Spacey sexually assaulted her 18-year-old son at a Nantucket restaurant in July 2016. Spacey has not commented on the allegation.
And London's Old Vic Theatre said after an investigation that it received 20 allegations of inappropriate behavior by Spacey, its former artistic director, from 1995 to 2013.
Lockhart Steele, former Vox Media editorial director
Vox Media’s editorial director Lockhart Steele, former CEO and founder of Curbed Network, was fired following sexual harassment allegations by a former employee.
“Lockhart Steele was terminated effective immediately,” CEO Jim Bankoff wrote in a memo to staff on Oct. 19, Variety reported. He “admitted engaging in conduct that is inconsistent with our core values and is not tolerated at Vox Media.”
The claim was reportedly made by former employee Eden Rohatensky in a blog post on Medium, according to The Awl. Rohatensky worked at Vox Media as a web developer from June 2014 to August 2015, according to LinkedIn.
NBC reached out to Steele for comment but received no immediate response. Vox Media told NBC they could not comment on the ongoing investigation. (NBC's parent company, NBCUniversal, is an investor in Vox.)
George Takei, actor, LGBT activist
George Takei, who starred in the original “Star Trek” series as Hikaru Sulu, has been accused of groping a former model and actor in 1981, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Scott R. Brunton said he fell asleep at Takei’s home in Los Angeles and awoke to find his pants around his ankles and Takei groping his crotch and trying to take off his underwear. Brunton believes that Takei drugged him, he told NBC News, which is why he fell asleep at Takei’s home after having two drinks.
Takei denied the claims in a series of Tweets and on Facebook.
“The events he describes back in the 1980s simply did not occur, and I do not know why he has claimed them now,” he wrote. He added that “those that know me understand that non-consensual acts are so antithetical to my values and my practices, the very idea that someone would accuse me of this is quite personally painful.”
Jeffrey Tambor, actor
Jeffrey Tambor said after being accused of sexual harassment by "Transparent" co-star Trace Lysette that he can be "volatile and ill-tempered" but that has "never been a predator."
Amazon is investigating her claims, along with those by Tambor's former assistant Van Barnes.
A Facebook post by Barnes obtained by The Hollywood Reporter did not directly name Tambor but said that her employer subjected her to "butt pats," pornography played at loud volumes and verbal harassment.
Barnes' lawyer Alana Chazan told the publication her client signed a nondisclosure agreement while working for Tambor and would not comment but that she "is cooperating with the investigation being conducted by Amazon."
"I am aware that a former disgruntled assistant of mine has made a private post implying that I had acted in an improper manner toward her," Tambor's representative, Leslie Siebert, told KNBC in a statement.
Lysette, Tambor's second accuser, said the Emmy-winning star "has made many sexual advances and comments at me, but one time it got physical."
She detailed one alleged incident with her "back against the wall in the corner."
"He came in close, put his bare feet on top of mine so I could not move, leaned his body against me, and began quick, discreet thrusts back and forth against my body," she told The Hollywood Reporter. "I felt his penis on my hip through his thin pajamas and I pushed him off of me. Again, I laughed it off and rolled my eyes. I had a job to do and I had to do it with Jeffrey, the lead of our show."
Tambor released this statement denying the claims: "For the past four years, I've had the huge privilege--and huge responsibility--of playing Maura Pfefferman, a transgender woman, in a show that I know has had an enormous, positive impact on a community that has been too long dismissed and misunderstood. Now I find myself accused of behavior that any civilized person would condemn unreservedly," he began. "I know I haven't always been the easiest person to work with. I can be volatile and ill-tempered, and too often I express my opinions harshly and without tact. But I have never been a predator -- ever. I am deeply sorry if any action of mine was ever misinterpreted by anyone as being sexually aggressive or if I ever offended or hurt anyone. But the fact is, for all my flaws, I am not a predator and the idea that someone might see me in that way is more distressing than I can express."
James Toback, filmmaker
More than 200 women, including actress Julianne Moore, have accused filmmaker James Toback of acting inappropriately with them. At least 38 women claimed to have been sexually harassed by Toback in a report published by The Los Angeles Times on Sunday. Since then, 193 additional women have contacted the Times to talk about Toback, the reporter said on Twitter.
The women's allegations depict a pattern of behavior, with many of the women saying Toback approached them in New York or Los Angeles, offering them movie roles. He would then allegedly invite the woman to a private meeting, where he would ask her explicit questions about her sexual history and often to remove her clothes, the Times reported.
Many of the women interviewed said Toback dry-humped them or masturbated in front of them.
Toback, 72, has denied all of the allegations. He told the Times that he had never met any of the women, or if he had it "was for five minutes and (I) have no recollection."
Harvey Weinstein, Hollywood producer
More than 60 women have come forward since Oct. 5 to accuse Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein of decades of sexual harassment and assault. Actresses Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie and Mira Sorvino are among those who made their stories public in exposes published by The New York Times and The New Yorker. The women described years of Weinstein's unwanted sexual advances in detail, alleging acts that in some cases included groping or rape.
After the allegations were published, the movie mogul was fired from The Weinstein Company, which he co-founded, and removed from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The New York State Attorney General announced a civil rights investigation into The Weinstein Company to ascertain whether any civil rights and anti-discrimination laws were broken and police investigations were opened in Los Angeles, New York and London.
Weinstein's wife, fashion designer Georgina Chapman, announced she was leaving him on Oct. 10.
“Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein," Weinstein's spokesperson said in a statement.
Weinstein also responded to the allegations by actress Lupita Nyong’o, which included claims that Weinstein wanted to take off his pants while she gave him a massage. He also said at a later meeting, "If I wanted to be an actress, then I had to be willing to" go up to a hotel room with him, hinting at a proposition of sex, she recalled.
"Weinstein has a different recollection of the events, but believes Lupita is a brilliant actress and a major force for the industry," his spokesperson said in a statement. "Last year, she sent a personal invitation to Mr. Weinstein to see her in her Broadway show 'Eclipsed.'"
Ed Westwick, actor
The English actor, known for playing the character Chuck Bass in the teen series “Gossip Girl,” has been accused of rape by two women and of sexual assault by a third woman.
Actress Kristina Cohen alleged in a Nov. 6 Facebook post that Westwick raped her in his home in 2014 after she had laid down for a nap in his guest bedroom.
Westwick denied the claim on Twitter, saying, “I do not know this woman. I have never forced myself in any manner, on any woman. I certainly have never committed rape.”
Two days after the first allegation, another woman, former actress Aurelie Wynn, came forward claiming Westwick raped her at his home in 2014 after she went to sleep in one of the bedrooms. She said she awoke to him on top of her.
Westwick also denied the second allegation on Twitter, calling the two claims “provably untrue.”
A third woman claimed that Westwick assaulted her at a Hollywood hotel in 2014. The actor repeatedly tried to kiss her throughout the night and “aggressively groped” her, Rachel Eck, an executive assistant at the time, told Buzzfeed in a Nov. 14 report. Westwick has not yet commented on the third allegation.
Los Angeles police are investigating Westwick after Cohen filed a police report, spokesman Michael Lopez told The Associated Press.
After the first two allegations, the BBC pulled the mystery thriller “Ordeal by Innocence,” which Westwick appears in, from its television schedule “until these matters are resolved,” the network said. Filming has also been halted on the second season of BBC comedy “White Gold,” which Westwick stars in.
NBC has reached out to Westwick for further comment and has not heard back.
Leon Wieseltier, magazine editor
A number of women who worked with prominent literary editor Leon Wieseltier at The New Republic magazine have accused him of sexual harassment, The New York Times reported. Wieseltier worked at the magazine for more than three decades and was set to head a new magazine to launch next week.
After learning of the allegations, the organization that was backing the new magazine pulled out of the project.
"Upon receiving information related to past inappropriate workplace conduct, Emerson Collective ended its business relationship with Leon Wieseltier, including a journal planned for publication under his editorial direction," the Emerson Collective told The New York Times Tuesday.
Wieseltier apologized in an email to the Times on Tuesday.
"For my offenses against some of my colleagues in the past I offer a shaken apology and ask for their forgiveness," he wrote. "The women with whom I worked are smart and good people. I am ashamed to know that I made any of them feel demeaned and disrespected. I assure them I will not waste this reckoning."
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