Bloomberg reporter Abigail Doolittle files sexual harassment lawsuit against anchor Mark Crumpton

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An explosive sexual harassment lawsuit filed by a television personality against a veteran male newscaster is infuriating Bloomberg, the company owned by former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg.

In a lawsuit obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com, Abigail Doolittle, a live news reporter at Bloomberg Television since 2016, claims she was repeatedly sexually harassed over four years by newscaster Mark Crumpton, who has been with the company for three decades. .

Experts are debating whether this is the latest MeToo moment at Bloomberg, which has wrestled with complaints from women at the male-dominated company in the past and now has a new, multiyear harassment claim on its hands.

Or is it the case of a ‘Karen Newsroom’ in which an attractive young white journalist makes unsubstantiated complaints against a veteran black newscaster?

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) took no action after Doolittle’s initial complaints to the federal agency last year, but in July it signed the case and gave Doolittle his ‘ notice of right to sue’ on your own in federal court.

Now, ultimately, it may be up to a jury to decide whether to go to trial.

Reporter Abigail Doolittle claims she has been sexually harassed for four years by veteran newscaster Mark Crumpton

Reporter Abigail Doolittle claims she has been sexually harassed for four years by veteran newscaster Mark Crumpton

Reporter Abigail Doolittle, 49, claims she has been sexually harassed for four years by veteran newscaster Mark Crumpton, 62. Doolittle has been an on-air news reporter at Bloomberg Television since 2016 and Crumpton has been with the company for 30 years.

1670012530 784 Bloomberg reporter Abigail Doolittle files sexual harassment lawsuit against anchor

“We took their claims seriously, investigated them thoroughly, and found no evidence to support them,” a Bloomberg spokesperson said. Pictured: Bloomberg LP World Headquarters in New York City

“We took their claims seriously, investigated them thoroughly, and found no evidence to support them,” said Ty Trippet, a spokesman for Bloomberg LP.

Doolittle, 49, remains an on-air newscaster on Bloomberg TV.

“Through our investigation of her most recent complaints, we have yet to find any evidence to support her claims,” ​​Trippet said.

Bloomberg is owned by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg

Bloomberg is owned by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg

“However, based on what we have reviewed, we have serious concerns that you may, in fact, be unfairly targeting your colleague.”

The lawsuit Doolittle filed in New York Supreme Court in Manhattan in late October names Crumpton, 62, and the company as defendants and claims the company failed to protect her after she complained to them for many months, from the end of 2020 to the middle of 2020. 2021.

In the most explosive claim, Doolittle’s lawsuit cites an alleged “masturbation incident” during a live broadcast he was doing on December 1, 2020.

‘Moments in the broadcast Crumpton looked directly at [Doolittle] while masturbating his genitals over his pants,’ according to the lawsuit.

But Bloomberg said his story changed over time and that initially, according to documents the company filed with the EEOC in response to a complaint filed with the federal agency last year, he said only that “Crumpton was doing something with his tie around from the crotch”. area while she was airborne.

And in June, Bloomberg said that when she discussed the December incident with company human resources officials, she said only that she could see Crumpton “out of the corner of her eye” and that she was “not sure what she was doing.” but he thought he was doing it. something ‘around the crotch area’.

In the lawsuit, he claimed that Crumpton was in his “direct line of sight.”

She said it was part of a series of sexual harassment incidents dating back to at least 2018, when she said Crumpton repeatedly asked her to join him on a tropical vacation. She says that she repeatedly rejected him.

“Life would be so much better if you and I were together on a Caribbean beach with a cocktail,” the lawsuit claims Crumpton told Doolittle multiple times.

The lawsuit also claims that she felt harassed when Crumpton on numerous occasions throughout 2019 told her that her “earrings looked beautiful.”

Doolittle’s lawsuit claims other workers were harassed. She claims that in December 2019, when San Francisco anchor Emily Chang was on the air during a live segment, Crumpton “glared seductively” at Chang on screen and “made a sexually suggestive growl.”

She also claims that he began calling his co-workers ‘assholes’ and ‘sons of b***’ and ‘blatantly ‘sneering’ at other female employees, making statements like ‘Well, isn’t it? she’s fine,” in open spaces and in front of other employees, as they walked by.”

The company said it has investigated all the complaints but will not buy any of them.

“Beginning in December 2020, Doolittle filed internal complaints about fellow employee Mark Crumpton,” the company said in a filing with the EEOC. “Each time he did so, Bloomberg’s employee relations team thoroughly investigated his allegations and found no basis for them.”

‘As for the most startling allegation in the lawsuit, that Crumpton ‘masturbated[d] his genitals on his pants’ in her presence on a live television set; she never told Bloomberg investigators that he engaged in such behavior.’

Doolittle’s lawsuit said she initially complained to head of terminals and marketing Daniel Curtis immediately after the December 2020 incident that Crumpton was making her “uncomfortable” and that she did not want to appear on the air or have him on set with her. she.

Doolittle’s lawsuit acknowledges that she did not mention an alleged “masturbation incident” in those terms at the time because she claims she “feared retaliation based on how other female media figures were treated after reporting the harassment to their employers.”

And he further claims in the lawsuit that ‘Curtis was aware of Crumpton’s ‘sexually inappropriate behavior’.

Despite that, the lawsuit claims that she was back on the air with Crumpton the next day.

Curtis, who is still with Bloomberg, did not return calls. However, in Bloomberg’s EEOC filings, the company defended his action.

Doolittle said only that she was “uncomfortable” with Crumpton, the company said, noting that Curtis responded to her concern by changing the times so that her “Market Hits” segment and Crumpton’s “First Word” segment were in different time frames to create more time between segments when both can overlap in the newsroom.

Doolittle claims in the lawsuit that the harassment dates back to at least 2018, when he said Crumpton repeatedly asked him to join him on a tropical vacation.  She says that she repeatedly rejected him.

Doolittle claims in the lawsuit that the harassment dates back to at least 2018, when he said Crumpton repeatedly asked him to join him on a tropical vacation. She says that she repeatedly rejected him.

After management took steps to have them no longer appear on the air together, the lawsuit claims Crumpton

After management took steps to have them no longer appear on the air together, the lawsuit claims Crumpton repeatedly “lingered” near Doolittle’s desk and near the set when she was on the air.

The lawsuit says Doolittle then voiced his complaint to an executive producer, Emily Haas-Godsil, who said she then spoke directly to Crumpton.

But she claims that Crumpton, upon learning she had complained, further retaliated against her, in one instance “carrying the set” while on air and sitting near her.

Haas-Godsil left the company in July 2021 to start his own company, according to his Linkedin profile, and did not return DailyMail.com messages.

While they no longer appeared on the air together, the lawsuit claims that Crumpton repeatedly “lingered” near Doolittle’s desk and near the set when she was on the air.

However, the company said it appears Crumpton was just performing his normal job duties and not interacting with Doolittle.

The company said that after Doolittle postponed a series of conference calls with human resources representatives to hear his complaints, he finally spoke of Crumpton’s alleged actions in a meeting with a human resources representative on July 2, 2021, about seven months. after the alleged “masturbation incident”. ‘

That led to another meeting with employee relations manager Katharine Polis, who asked her what action she wanted the company to take, and whether it included firing Crumpton.

Emily Haas-Godsil

daniel curtis

Doolittle’s lawsuit said he complained to executive producer Emily Haas-Godsil and head of terminals and marketing Daniel Curtis.

After promising to investigate, the lawsuit claims that Doolittle received an email from Polis on July 21 that said that, after further investigation, the company “denied any wrongdoing on Crumpton’s part.”

Doolittle claims that Polis advised him to “use his voice against [Crumpton] to empower herself.

Polis, who left Bloomberg last month for a new human resources job, did not return calls seeking comment.

The company said in response to an EEOC complaint filed by Doolittle that no one else on set reported that Crumpton had acted inappropriately that day when Doolittle claims a masturbation incident took place.

The company also denied cutting its airtime due to the complaints, saying it only moved one segment while it searched for a new sponsor.

“In each case, the alleged retaliatory behaviors (1) did not constitute an adverse employment action and (2) were motivated by legitimate business reasons that have nothing to do with Doolittle,” the company said.

Neither Crumpton nor Doolittle returned calls for comment.