The president of ABC News is requesting an independent investigation into how the network handles sexual assault claims a day after a lawsuit claimed a senior Good Morning America producer attacked two female staffers.
President Kim Goodwin said that she won't be 'sweeping this under the rug,' and that she's heard enough 'to know we have a problem' in a conference call with staff on Thursday, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Kirstyn Crawford, 31, says former GMA senior producer Michael Corn kissed her head and rubbed her legs without her consent in an Uber in 2015, when she would have been about 25 years old.
They were on a business trip to Los Angeles to cover the Academy Awards, according to the lawsuit filed Wednesday in New York state court.
'Corn grabbed Crawford’s hand and told her that he wanted to be able to help her with her career,' the lawsuit says.
The pair had just left a company party, and when they got back to the hotel, Crawford helped him to his room, where Corn allegedly pulled her head onto his chest and pet her hair.
He also allegedly stumbled into her room drunk and laid down on her bed, leaving her 'shaking; she was terrified,' according to the lawsuit.
Corn has denied the allegations and called them all fabrications.
ABC News President Kim Goodwin says she's heard enough 'to know we have a problem'
A lawsuit filed Wednesday in New York alleges that former Good Morning America senior producer Michael Corn, above, sexually harassed two employees during business trips
Kirstyn Crawford says Corn kissed her head, rubbed her legs, and burst into her room drunk during a trip to Los Angeles to cover the Oscars in 2015, when she was around 25 years old
Jill McClain, who worked with Corn on a different show, says the producer rubbed her vagina over her jeans during a red-eye flight from Los Angeles in 2010
Goodwin, the ABC News president, joined the network in May of this year after Corn had already left in April. Neither he nor the company offered a reason for his departure.
Goodwin said the investigation would also look into the employees who handled complaints against Corn.
Crawford is currently an 'anchor producer' on Good Morning America.
The lawsuit also includes a story from Jill McClain, who worked with Corn on World News Tonight in 2010 and says she was assaulted under 'eerily similar circumstances several years prior.'
During a red-eye flight from Los Angeles, McClain says Corn 'slid his hand from [her] upper right thigh to her vagina, and began rubbing her vagina, over her jeans.'
ABC officials learned of Crawford’s allegations in 2017, but an investigation into Corn's conduct was only launched after Crawford and McClain filed formal complaints to the company in February, according to the lawsuit.
Crawford, who filed the suit, worked with Corn as a producer on ABC's Good Morning America. She's still there, but Corn left with no reason for his departure in April of this year
'We can't have us investigating us. We need an independent person,' Godwin, the ABC News president, told staffers in a conference call on Thursday.
'The process has to be independent.'
Crawford's lawsuit alleges that Corn had a pattern of verbally abusive tirades, which left her feeling like she 'walked on eggshells, unsure of when Corn would explode.
'Corn would waffle between berating Crawford publicly and emailing her privately about personal and confidential matters to make her feel like she was some sort of confidante,' the lawsuit said.
McClain added her story to the lawsuit in support of Crawford, but she is not an official party.
After the incident where he rubbed her vagina on the plane from Los Angeles, McClain, who was 24 and recently engaged at the time, alleges more inappropriate comments from Corn.
'Corn - unprompted - turned to McClain and said words to the effect of, "I hope your marriage is better than mine. I wish my wife was more like you. Wouldn’t it be great if the two of us could catch a flight somewhere else and spend the rest of the weekend together?" according to the lawsuit.
McClain says Corn assaulted her again in April 2011 while the pair was in London covering the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.
She says Corn was 'visibly intoxicated' and followed her to her room after they left the bar.
McClain says Corn assaulted her again during a trip to London for Prince William and Kate Middleton's royal wedding in 2011. Above, Middleton makes her way to Westminster Abbey
'In a disturbing parallel to what he would say to Crawford four years later, Corn told McClain that he cared more about her career than Sawyer ever would,' the lawsuit says.
He knocked on her door, pushed his way into the room, pinned her against a wall, and started kissing her face and neck, the lawsuit says.
'McClain froze and had a flashback to the assault on the plane. Corn backed McClain into the room, pushed her down onto the bed on her back, and got on top of her.
'Corn then grabbed the top of McClain’s jumpsuit as well as her bra and pulled them both down, exposing McClain’s bare breasts. Corn began fondling McClain’s bare chest.
'McClain mustered all of the strength that she could and managed to push him off of her. She yelled at Corn to leave, and Corn left the room in a huff. McClain felt violated and was in shock; she took the clothes that she was wearing and threw them in the trash.'
McClain left her 'dream job' at ABC in 2013, citing a hostile work environment.
'For one thing, McClain did not feel that she could safely report Corn’s conduct for fear that Corn would retaliate. But also, the prevailing hostile work environment between men and women at ABC made McClain feel that a future at ABC was unmanageable,' the lawsuit says.
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