Two senior executives suspended at Vice amid sexual harassment allegations

Vice Media has suspended two senior executives in the wake of a Dec. 23 New York Times report of sexual harassment allegations at the media outlet.

President Andrew Creighton and chief digital officer Mike Germano were put on leave per an internal memo to staff on Tuesday that was obtained by the Times.

According to the report, Creighton, who co-founded the British division of Vice in 2002, paid $135,000 to a former Vice employee after she alleged she was terminated for rejecting his suggestion of having a romantic relationship.

{mosads}The December Times’s investigative piece uncovered hundreds of current and former employees alleging a prevalent environment of harassment toward women, along with several past settlements paid due to sexual harassment and defamation that occurred at Vice.

One 2016 settlement involved Creighton, then a vice president at the company, who paid $135,000 to a former employee who alleged that she was fired for rejecting a sexual relationship with him.

Three other complaints involved unwanted sexual advances, retaliation against a female employee after a sexual relationship and one complaint regarding a published claim that a Vice.com writer had intercourse with a source for a story. 

Vice co-founders Shane Smith and Suroosh Alvi conceded to the Times that “from the top down, we have failed as a company to create a safe and inclusive workplace where everyone, especially women, can feel respected and thrive.”

“It happened on our watch,” Smith and Alvi said in a joint statement. “And ultimately we let far too many people down. We are truly sorry for this.”

The news comes as the media world continues to be rocked by high-profile firings and resignations related to sexual misconduct, including Charlie Rose at CBS and PBS, Matt Lauer at NBC, Bill O’Reilly at Fox News, NPR’s Mike Oreskes, New Republic publisher Hamilton Fish and New York Times White House correspondent Glenn Thrush, who will return to the paper in February after a two-month suspension.