CNN pundit Jeffrey Toobin on leave amid disturbing sex scandal
Fox News senior correspondent Rick Leventhal has the latest on 'Hannity.'
Actress and activist Rose McGowan has slammed the "liberal 'intellectuals'" who are defending CNN star Jeffrey Toobin amid his ongoing Zoom masturbation scandal.
The New Yorker magazine said Monday it had suspended Toobin -- also CNN's chief legal analyst -- over an alleged incident that involved nudity during a Zoom call with his colleagues at the magazine and members of WNYC radio. Vice later reported, citing two sources, that Toobin was seen masturbating on the call.
While "#MeToobin" was trending on Twitter, The Young Turks host Adrienne Lawrence expressed a "few thoughts" on the social media platform.
"1. Masturbating at work is neither normal nor acceptable—it's sexual harassment," Lawrence began. "2. Individuals who engage in sexual harassment should suffer professional consequences. 3. These Toobin defenders are telling on themselves."
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McGowan, who came forward in 2017 as a victim of disgraced film mogul and convicted sexual predator Harvey Weinstein, responded to Lawrence's tweet by suggesting there would be a double standard if a woman was caught doing what Toobin allegedly did.
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"Can you all imagine if a conservative woman was caught masturbating on [a] @zoom meeting like #MeToobin?" McGowan asked. "If it had been a liberal woman? If it had been a WOC?
"@AdrienneLaw do you think there’d be liberal ‘intellectuals’ rising to defend her? She’d be burned at the stake," McGowan went on.
CNN media reporter Brian Stelter appeared sympathetic in his reporting about his controversial colleague, writing that Toobin had been "sidelined" from the network's election coverage and calling the masturbation incident an "accident."
Vice reported on Monday that the Zoom call, which was described as an "election simulation," included Toobin's New Yorker colleagues Jane Mayer, Masha Gessen, Andrew Marantz, Jelani Cobb, Evan Osnos, Sue Halpern and Dexter Filkins playing various roles including President Trump, Joe Biden, "establishment Republicans," 'establishment Democrats," and "the military." Toobin was playing "the courts."
According to two sources, Toobin was seen masturbating in what was supposed to be a 10-minute "strategy session," though the report added that it "seemed like Toobin was on a second video call."
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"The sources said that when the groups returned from their breakout rooms, Toobin lowered the camera," Vice said. "The people on the call said they could see Toobin touching his penis. Toobin then left the call. Moments later, he called back in, seemingly unaware of what his colleagues had been able to see, and the simulation continued."
The detail about Toobin's alleged masturbation was added to the report after it was initially published, as noted by Vice: "This piece has been updated with more detail about the call and the headline has been updated to reflect that Toobin was masturbating."
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Toobin, one of CNN's biggest stars, offered an apology for his "embarrassingly stupid mistake" and attempted to explain what led to the incident.
“I apologize to my wife, family, friends and co-workers," Toobin said in a statement to Motherboard. “I believed I was not visible on Zoom. I thought no one on the Zoom call could see me. I thought I had muted the Zoom video."
CNN said in a statement, "Jeff Toobin has asked for some time off while he deals with a personal issue, which we have granted.”