Eliza Dushku Speaks out About Michael Weatherly: “Because I Did Not Want to Be Harassed, I Was Fired”

Days after a bombshell report from the New York Times revealing that CBS paid actress Eliza Dushku millions to settle a sexual harassment case, Dushku has now countered with a statement of her own. According to the former Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel star, the story printed by the Times on December 14, 2018 fails to accurately portray the severity of actor Michael Weatherly‘s sexual harassment as well as CBS’s lack of appropriate action.

Last Thursday it was reported that Dushku, who starred in three episodes of Bull, was supposed to be brought on to the show as a series regular. However, negotiations between the actor and network crumbled after actor Michael Weatherly reportedly, repeatedly sexually harassed her. In the midst of an ongoing investigation into its company culture, CBS quietly paid Dushku a $9.5 million settlement — the “projected amount” of her series regular contract. When she was first approached by the Times about this story, Dushku denied to give a comment out of respect to her settlement deal with CBS. But after reading the network and Weatherly’s account of her firing, the actress has now issued a lengthy response in The Boston Globe. 

“The narrative propagated by CBS, actor Michael Weatherly, and writer-producer Glenn Gordon Caron is deceptive and in no way fits with how they treated me on the set of the television show Bull and retaliated against me for simply asking to do my job without relentless sexual harassment,” the scathing article begins. Dushku notes that the sexual harassment that occurred is provably worse than what CBS, Weatherly, and Caron claim; it was captured on CBS’s own cameras.

Dushku elaborates on many of the claims from the original story, including Weatherly’s “rape van” remark, his name calling, and his talks about having a threesome. In the actress’ own words, the harassment is far more horrifying than previously reported, as she details how Weatherly’s loud and public talks about threesomes encouraged some members of the crew to join in on his harassment. Even more disturbingly, Dushku claims that Weatherly would routinely joke about the sexual harassment training he had to go through and brag about his friendship with Les Moonves. Moonves, the longtime head of CBS, has recently been fired without severance for his own sexual abuse scandal.

“I did not over-react. I took a job and, because I did not want to be harassed, I was fired,” she wrote.

After enduring her co-star’s near-constant humiliation, Dushku brought the matter up to CBS’ HR department. Weatherly didn’t take the resulting report well, reportedly circulating a document to the crew that the actress refers to as “the memo.” This passive aggressive memo stated that no one could comment on Dushku’s appearance. Weatherly also gave a pointed and demeaning toast to the actress that she describes as “one of the most cruel, most aggressive humiliations I have ever experienced. It was I who was mortified.”

Dushku also calls out Caron and CBS for encouraging and defending the actor’s “frat” behavior. “Weatherly sexually harassed and bullied me day-in and day-out and would have gotten away with it had he not been caught on tape, and had the CBS lawyers not inadvertently shared the tapes with my counsel, Barbara Robb,” she wrote. “Reflecting on the whole ordeal, it often makes me think with sadness of the majority of victims who do not have the benefit of the fortunate evidence — the tapes that I had.”

Where to stream Bull