A women’s advocacy organization is demanding that the Democratic National Committee cancel the next presidential debate unless one of its co-sponsors, NBC News, fires its leadership.
The call for the network to “clean house” comes in light of the recent revelations from former reporter Ronan Farrow’s new book Catch and Kill.
“The DNC needs to make it clear that they support survivors of sexual abuse and cancel the upcoming 2020 Democratic presidential primary debate on MSNBC until Comcast and NBC News take clear steps to clean up the toxic culture that exists across their networks,” Shaunna Thomas, the co-founder and executive director of UltraViolet Action, said in a statement on Tuesday, according to the Wrap.
Thomas later referenced Farrow’s reporting, which alleged that network executives knew about the allegation that former Today host Matt Lauer raped a subordinate at the Sochi Olympics in 2014. The former NBC reporter also alleged that the network squashed his reporting on disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein in part at his own request.
.@DNC should pull the debate in Nov from @nbc until they demonstrate they’re taking this seriously. Clean house and do an independent investigation. Grateful to @RonanFarrow for exposing what is really happening to women inside NBC- especially wrt Noah Oppenheim and Phil Griffin https://t.co/OGK0lI6MXq
— Shaunna Thomas (@SLThomas) October 16, 2019
“These initial reports demonstrate that NBC’s current leadership is either unable or unwilling to take appropriate steps to combat the culture of sexual abuse at the networks. These are problems that can only be solved by significant structural and cultural changes at MSNBC, NBC News, and its parent company, Comcast,” Thomas’s statement went on. “The DNC must stand with survivors and pull the upcoming democratic presidential primary debate from MSNBC until Comcast takes clear steps to clean house at NBC News.”
A Washington Post spokesperson confirmed that the outlet still plans on hosting the November debate with MSNBC.
UltraViolet Action has previously called on NBC to fire network president Noah Oppenheim prior to its calls for the DNC to demand action.
